1

I am the owner of a Life Insurance policy that insures my sister. My Mother transferred the ownership to me as she was getting old, and I dont have a copy of the policy. The insured name listed shows my sisters previous married name. I have no idea who the beneficiary is on the policy. As the owner of the policy, does the insurance company have to tell me who the beneficiary is?

The insured on the policy committed suicide. I dont even know if the policy will even pay anything out because of the suicide (the policy was likely purchased around 1965 to 1970). As the owner of the policy, does the insurance company have to tell me whether or not they'll pay the claim if it was suicide?

It's possible that the beneficiary is listed as her previous husband, who has been deceased for over 30 years. He had a daughter with my sister, and she is still living. Would she end up getting the proceeds?

Important info from the comments:

I get yearly statements on the policy. My parents bought one for every kid. The statement says it's a paid-up whole life policy. The face amount of the insurance is only $1,000, so it's not worth getting an attorney. It was meant to help with funeral costs. They didn't want my sister to have the policy because she would probably just cash it in. I got mine when I turned legal age and cashed it in a few years later.

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    That's way too many questions for a single post, and quite a few unknowns. You'll probably need an estate attorney to untangle this
    – littleadv
    Commented May 20 at 3:49
  • 3
    Is this a paid-up Whole Life? If not, then the fact that you haven't been paying premiums (if you were you'd have the policy information) means there probably is no policy to claim against.
    – keshlam
    Commented May 20 at 5:22
  • I get yearly statements on the policy. My parents bought one for every kid. The statement says it's a paid-up whole life policy. The face amount of the insurance is only $1,000, so it's not worth getting an attorney. It was meant to help with funeral costs. They didn't want my sister to have the policy because she would probably just cash it in. I got mine when I turned legal age and cashed it in a few years later.
    – Rosanne Thorp
    Commented May 20 at 13:01
  • Is it possible to list the insured as the beneficiary so the deceased estate would distribute the funds? If that's possible, that's who might be listed as beneficiary.
    – Rosanne Thorp
    Commented May 20 at 13:14
  • I originally called the insurance to let them know she passed. They said they would start a death claim, locate the BNF and send out a check. I was going to call them to ask for a copy of the policy and see if they could tell me who was listed as the BNF. But before I could call them back, I received a call from them. Apparently, I was the beneficiary and they are cutting a check and sending it to me. They definitely did their research because they knew the deceased remarried and had a different last name than what was on the policy. They also knew my email address and phone number.
    – Rosanne Thorp
    Commented May 22 at 12:31

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Yes, if you are the owner of the policy, the insurance company should have no problem with a request for a copy of the terms, and should be able to answer your other questions. Just give them the policy number so they can look it up.

Having said that, this sounds like a classic example of a policy that shouldn't have been purchased unless it was free or nearly so. Which they sometimes are, as promotional stunts; I have a $1000 policy only because the insurance company was giving them to employees of my company in the hope that we'd be interested enough to buy more coverage -- a promotional stunt that I was willing to take advantage of.

Improve this answer
1

Insurance policies have a limited time clause for suicide. It will vary from state to state in the US, but it is typically not longer than 2 years. An exception might be made for an accidental death policy, but that would not apply in your case.

As the owner of the policy, you had the right to change the beneficiary, and I am not sure if you can change it after the fact.

If you run into trouble with the insurance company, often times the funeral home will help as part of their service.

Generally speaking, this is one area where insurance companies tend to perform well. Unlike property claims most do not fight on life insurance claims.

My condolences for your loss.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .