lI am the beneficiary on fiance's life insurance policy through her employer

[Kimmy The One]

I have not been contacted with any correspondence or forms to fill out since my fince's death on Jan. 16,2004. Her sisters called her employer to advise them of her death, and have provided them with a copy of the ceritfied death certificate. Myself, and her son are both named as beneficiares both receiving each 50% of the policy pay out. Her sisters whom have obtained legal guardianship of the deceased son, have filed all claim paperwork on the minor sons behalf, and I have not been sent any beneficiary paperwork to fill out to file my claim. I have just finally contacted the employer of the deceased, and they forwarded me to the life insurance company being minnesota life in minneapolis, minnesota. The people there told me that I need to send them a copy of the policy before they would discuss this with me any further. The deceased sisters will not converse with me sicne their sisters death, as they feel that I don't deserve any of their sisters life insurance benefits. They have not even been in contact with me since the funeral up until 2 weeks ago to tell me that my name was on the policy as a beneficiary. They have not made any attempts to talk about, or make any arrangements to pay me back for the funeral expenses that I paid in full, and have the receipts to prove it. I have reason to beleive that the reason being that I have not received any claim forms from my finace's employer, or the insurance company itself, is the possibility that they do not have my address. in searching the web for answers, I have ran across a statement saying that if the beneficiary does not notify the company with in a certain period of time as stated on the policy, the insurers may not have to pay that beneficiary of the policy. I assumed that since the sisters notified the employer, and insurance company of their sisters death, that would be all the notice they needed, and I am assumed that I would receive the claim forms to fill out on my behalf as primary beneficiary??? I have a lawyers appointment on Jan. 6, 2004 to infquire as to if there will be a problem with me filing my claim as I do not have a copy of the policy in my possesion, and no one seems to want to get me one. I do have a copy of the death dertificate that was given to me by one of the 3 of my finance's sisters who is 100% positive that the other 2 sisters are only out for the best interests of themselves, and not the surviving minor child whom is the other beneficiary of 50% of the policy.

What is your best advise you have for me in the steps to claim my 1/2 of the insurance policy that I am due??

Thank You,
Kimmy the one
for Fiance' lost.

 

[Dandy Don]

(1) You forgot to post what state this applies to.

(2) Is this the first time you have posted this mesage in May or has it been posted previously on another message board?

(3) You say you have a lawyer's appointment on "January 6, 2004". Is this date correct or is it a misprint?

(4) EXACTLY WHO TOLD YOU that YOU were named as a beneficiary on this policy? How do you know for sure that they were telling you the truth?

It's very odd that Minnesota Life has asked you for a copy of the policy (which they should know that you don't have access to!!). IF you were legitimately named as a beneficiary, they should be sending you a claim form to fill out so you could get your check. Maybe they are stalling so they won't have to pay you right away, or it is also possible that you were NOT named as a beneficiary (and they don't want to come right out and tell you that) or it is also possible that maybe your fiancee forgot to submit a beneficiary designation form with your name on it or she may have filled it out incorrectly--anyway, it's very unprofessional of the insurance company not to let you know the exact reason.

(5) Did your fiancee leave a will? Whether she did or not, check at the county courthouse probate court to see if a probated estate (containing a will) exists or an "intestate" estate (without a will) was opened up for your fiancee (if you don't know the address of the county courthouse, please mention what city and state the death occurred in and I can look it up for you). If there is a file, you can visit the courthouse to look at the file in person or if you live out of the area you can order copies of the file be mailed to you. You will get a better understanding of exactly how the estate was handled and more importantly can get the name and address of the estate executor/administrator.

If there was an estate opened and if it is still open, you can file a claim with the executor to get reimbursed for the funeral expenses.

(6) Insurance companies will usually not release information about policies to anyone other than the executor/administrator or beneficiaries. If you feel comfortable doing so, ask the executor/administrator to contact the insurance company to find out the details about this matter and to report back to you.

(7) If the executor/administrator is one of the sisters or someone else who won't cooperate with you, then send Minnesota Life a certified letter asking them to notify you to let you know if you are a beneficiary or not (provide them with the name and date of birth and address of your fiancee), to see what type of response you will get from them, or even IF they will respond. If they have not responded within 2-4 weeks, then file a complaint with your State Insurance Commissioner (most commissioners have a website and a yellow pages listing) so he can investigate this on your behalf.

I do certainly hope that things turn out in your favor.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (e-mail: [email protected])