How do they find you?

[softy515]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Me and my family are curious as to how long it takes for a life insurance company to notify the benefactor of a life insurance policy. After my father passed, we notified one company and they said they would be in contact with the benefactor. None of the children have been contacted but we also wonder how they find us, in this day and age of no land lines to call. Would they send a letter then?

I am also curious if one of my siblings could contact father's past employee and find out that another sibling is the benefactor listed on that policy or if that info is confidential?

Thank you. We are starting to think he might have listed someone other then us as benefactor and guess we would just have to deal with that. lol

 

[Betty]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Me and my family are curious as to how long it takes for a life insurance company to notify the benefactor of a life insurance policy. After my father passed, we notified one company and they said they would be in contact with the benefactor. None of the children have been contacted but we also wonder how they find us, in this day and age of no land lines to call. Would they send a letter then?

I am also curious if one of my siblings could contact father's past employee and find out that another sibling is the benefactor listed on that policy or if that info is confidential?

Thank you. We are starting to think he might have listed someone other then us as benefactor and guess we would just have to deal with that. lol

There should be a life ins. policy or certificate that lists the beneficiary/beneficiaries. Do you not know where this is? The ins. co. will contact the bene/benes listed on their application - in their records. Generally the person contacting the ins. co. of the death of the insured sends the ins. co. a copy of the death certificate along with contact information. They are not going to pay the proceeds without a copy of the death certificate. It seems you are not sure who the bene/benes are. The ins. co. has ways of finding the bene/benes if other than the person who contacted them. How did you contact them? Did you leave contact info?
Did you send them a copy of the death cert.?

Generally who the bene/benes are is not given out unless the person calling is one of the benes. It's possible they might though.

You might try contacting again the co. you contacted previously & tell them you contacted them earlier re the death of your Father but haven't heard anything more & see what they say. They may say you are not a bene or that they need something additional ....

 

[disneykid52]

Maybe youre not the benefactor?

 

[HomeGuru]

Maybe youre not the benefactor?

**A: oh no, could his dog be it?

 

[softy515]

Thanks for the replies.

The dog? i hope not, his dogs all passed some time ago.

We know he has the policy because we found the statements and see that the monthly payment has come out of his checking out. We have not SEEN the policy, which is why we don't know for sure who is the benefactor.

My one sibling called to report his passing and they told her that they could not disclose who is the benefactor but since they are aware of his passing, they would notify whomever is. They did take her number in case. They did not ask her to send a copy of the death certificate.

Of course none of us might not be the benefactor.

Can it be normal for the company to not contact the benefactor immediately though?

Because his company has a life insurance policy and they contacted me (I was the benefactor on that one) immediately.

 

[anteater]

...we don't know for sure who is the benefactor.

Beneficiary... beneficiary.

 

[Betty]

As the ins. co. said, they will contact the beneficiary/beneficiaries -- none of you may be a beneficiary. They may have already contacted the person/persons who are a beneficiary if none of you are.

If you don't hear from the ins. co., apparently none of you are a bene.

 

[softy515]

Beneficiary... beneficiary.

Egg in my face.... I didn't even realize I was doing that. LOL

 

[cbg]

IF you are a beneficiary (not a benefactor) AND IF they have up to date contact information on you, they will be in touch with you.

If they do not contact you, it means one of two things; 1.) They do not have a current means of reaching you or 2.) You are not the beneficiary.

For a life insurance policy (unlike a 401k or 403b) there is no limitation on who can be the beneficiary. It may not be a sibling or child - it could be anyone he wanted to list.

They will not tell someone who is not a beneficiary, who the beneficiary is.

 

[Betty]

I have a feeling that none of you are beneficiaries. You noted one
sibling did give her contact info but none of you have heard
anything yet. If you are benes, you will hear something.

 

[softy515]

I just wanted to add a follow up concerning this in case someone in the future is reading.

One of the siblings is beneficiary. It did take the insurance company a few weeks to make contact.

 

[Betty]

Ok. Thank you for the update. A few weeks really isn't that long to verify the death & to make contact with the beneficiary.