how do i find who my mother had life insurance with?

[dawench]

What is the name of your state? hawaii

my mother-in-law recently passed away. we got the final judgement on her estate but it seems to only mention property and bank accounts. is this judgement separate from life insurance? how do we know how much life insurance she had, because she told us that she had it. however my sister in law is the personal representative and we don't trust her. we are just wondering how do we find out who she had her policy with and how much was it for, and who receives it. my mother in law was a wise and fair woman and we just dont know who to ask or contact. is it public information? we just dont know if my husbands sister is being honest as we feel something is up. i guess basically we just want to know if the estate is different from the life insurance and if we are contacted by the life insurance or the attorneys for the estate. please help asap!! aloha and mahalo. (goodbye and thank you)

 

[Ramoth]

Life insurance is different and separate from the estate. If you are named as a beneficiary, the insurance company will be contacting you.

 

[Dandy Don]

If you had access to your mother-in-law's checkbook or cancelled checks from the bank you could review them to see if perhaps she was making monthly premium payments to the insurance company, or if you had access to the personal papers at her home you could go through them to see if she kept a copy of the policy.

Main problem is that there is no one central national database where one could check to see what company she has a policy with. If she was working at the time of her death, check with her employer to see if perhaps she had a policy through them. There is also a company called www.L-LIFEINSURANCE.com (Lost Life Insurance) that does a search with the top 400 insurance companies in the US for about $89.

The life insurance money does pass outside of the estate, but as you were advised previously, that money goes directly to the designated beneficiary so that executor has no control over this at all.

 

[ALawyer]

If the life insurance was job based -- such as a policy provided by her employer or former employer if she is retired, contact that employer ASAP.

In nearly all cases the beneficiary must file a claim form to receive the life insurance benefits as the life companies do NOT know when apolicyowner has passed away, particularly with individual policies.