TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021
No one wants to face the reality that sometimes one of their loved ones might go missing. There might be very little reason for this case, and sometimes a criminal investigation might arise. However, for as long as the person cannot be found, their family might find themselves in a tight financial position. Therefore, they might wish to file a life insurance claim against the missing person’s policy.
Still, filing a life insurance claim for a missing person is a big challenge, given that life insurers do not recognize missing people as deceased until they have sufficient proof. Here’s why you’ll often have to have a missing person declared dead before you can file a claim.
How Life Insurers View Missing Persons
It’s not impossible to file a life insurance claim on a missing person. However, you will have to overcome a few hurdles.
For example, suppose one spouse abandons the family (it might not be known if they are dead or alive), and a single parent and their children are left behind. The remaining family members might need support. Therefore, the missing parent’s life insurance might be a necessity that they will need to use.
However, a life insurer will not view a missing person as a dead person, and they won’t pay out a death benefit just because the insured person is no longer around. Still, you should not terminate their life insurance policy. You want to keep this person’s plan active until the time that you can verify that they have passed away, and that means continuing to pay for it for as long as possible.
Assumption of Death
Under ordinary claims scenarios, beneficiaries must submit proof of the insured party’s death—a death certificate—to the life insurer in order to receive the payout. However, in missing persons cases, there might not be a death certificate, which could make the filing process a lot more complicated.
Every state has laws that allow a missing person’s family to file an assumption of death—a legal declaration of someone’s death—after a certain amount of time passes, and the person remains missing. However, the only way to get this proof is to have evidence that the missing party is, in fact, deceased. Therefore, you will need to work with the police and the courts to prove this fact (as reasonably as possible).
Once you have this proof, the authorities will issue a death certificate for the party in question. At that time, the beneficiaries can file a claim against the deceased’s life insurance using the certificate. While the life insurer might still have questions about the case, they will be able to work with the authorities to verify that they can pay a claim to the beneficiaries in good faith.
No Comments
Post a Comment |
|
Required
|
|
Required (Not Displayed)
|
|
Required
|
All comments are moderated and stripped of HTML.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTICE: This blog and website are made available by the publisher for educational and informational purposes only.
It is not be used as a substitute for competent insurance, legal, or tax advice from a licensed professional
in your state. By using this blog site you understand that there is no broker client relationship between
you and the blog and website publisher.
|
Blog Archive
|