threecandles
Junior Member
Life insurance questions/attorneys
On March 9th, 2018, our son-in-law died from an accident. He was a car hauler and was loading vehicles when, for whatever reason, slipped and fell onto the concrete on his head, causing trauma injury. This happened in Ohio, and, since Ohio Workman's Comp was involved, the process with them is nearly complete (we thank them for their very timely processing of the facts) and we think they will begin paying shortly. However, he had a life insurance policy that had been in force for only 18 months (which puts it in the "contestibility" stage) and, the insurance company is asking for all medical records (including visits to any clinic and doctor, as well as all medications taken) for the last 10 years. We are being given conflicting advice as to whether or not we need to hire an attorney to make sure that everything is being done correctly so that the company does not dis-allow the claim. My question is: Do we need to hire an attorney to get this done? Will they be able to help us any more than doing it ourselves? We still need to come up with those records (a real challenge because of the timeframe they are asking for). Is there a real possibility that the insurance company is trying to get out of paying this by requesting info back for so long of a period? We do NOT doubt that they need to verify that there was not some foul play or suicide involved. And, maybe that is all this is; but, 10 years is a long time to ask for records that very well could be almost impossible to find. Most of us do not keep our records that far back. And, in the case of a truck driver, they (he) change jobs, move around some, and use different venues to take their cdl certifications with different doctors or clinics. We hardly know where to look for those records. So, how detailed do we need to get? What happens if we miss a place or two? We are very comfortable knowing that he (our son-in-law) did not cause his own death. He was in a Honda plant loading cars and they have very stringent regulations regarding what he could and could not do as pertaining to safety equipment. Also, with the Ohio Workman's Comp being involved and already satisfied with his cause of death; as well as OSHA, we just want to make sure that the insurance company is not trying to find a loophole (via us not reporting EVERY place he visited in the last 10 years). This is not an accusation. We just want to know if any attorneys out there can offer us some real advice. The challenges we find are: 1) Some are telling us that we do NOT need an attorney, and, 2) others are telling us that we NEED an attorney to make sure everything is documented and legal. So, please, if you have had some past experience on this, advise. Would an attorney involved add any respectability to our cause and, maybe create an aire of authority that we as individuals could not do? Thank you for any help.
On March 9th, 2018, our son-in-law died from an accident. He was a car hauler and was loading vehicles when, for whatever reason, slipped and fell onto the concrete on his head, causing trauma injury. This happened in Ohio, and, since Ohio Workman's Comp was involved, the process with them is nearly complete (we thank them for their very timely processing of the facts) and we think they will begin paying shortly. However, he had a life insurance policy that had been in force for only 18 months (which puts it in the "contestibility" stage) and, the insurance company is asking for all medical records (including visits to any clinic and doctor, as well as all medications taken) for the last 10 years. We are being given conflicting advice as to whether or not we need to hire an attorney to make sure that everything is being done correctly so that the company does not dis-allow the claim. My question is: Do we need to hire an attorney to get this done? Will they be able to help us any more than doing it ourselves? We still need to come up with those records (a real challenge because of the timeframe they are asking for). Is there a real possibility that the insurance company is trying to get out of paying this by requesting info back for so long of a period? We do NOT doubt that they need to verify that there was not some foul play or suicide involved. And, maybe that is all this is; but, 10 years is a long time to ask for records that very well could be almost impossible to find. Most of us do not keep our records that far back. And, in the case of a truck driver, they (he) change jobs, move around some, and use different venues to take their cdl certifications with different doctors or clinics. We hardly know where to look for those records. So, how detailed do we need to get? What happens if we miss a place or two? We are very comfortable knowing that he (our son-in-law) did not cause his own death. He was in a Honda plant loading cars and they have very stringent regulations regarding what he could and could not do as pertaining to safety equipment. Also, with the Ohio Workman's Comp being involved and already satisfied with his cause of death; as well as OSHA, we just want to make sure that the insurance company is not trying to find a loophole (via us not reporting EVERY place he visited in the last 10 years). This is not an accusation. We just want to know if any attorneys out there can offer us some real advice. The challenges we find are: 1) Some are telling us that we do NOT need an attorney, and, 2) others are telling us that we NEED an attorney to make sure everything is documented and legal. So, please, if you have had some past experience on this, advise. Would an attorney involved add any respectability to our cause and, maybe create an aire of authority that we as individuals could not do? Thank you for any help.
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