"Misplaced" life insurance policies

[badluckben]

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

Father died, step mother died 2 weeks later. No children with 2nd wife. Her family is settling estate...Back in January we were told that there were several insurance policies for myself and brothers and our mom with a total value around 19,000.00. The execu"witch" gave us a list with only names and amounts-no policy numbers, phone numbers. She was to get back with us upon finishing reviewing all items. Well, here it is November and we had to contact her...her lawyer just sent us letter today stating that the insurance policies had been misplaced!! She would continue to look for them, but we should have enough info to get the claims filed. Well, after contacting (at numerous numbers - old policies that had been transferred to other companies) the companies, we've come up empty handed. What can be done now?? Is she liable for losing them?? Should we file a claim with the Commissioner of Accounts? Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Dandy Don]

The list you were given had exactly what type of "names"--people's names or insurance company names? "Amounts" of what--face value of the policy or the amount that the individual beneficiary would get?

Exactly what information did you use to contact "companies" and what companies have been transferred?

You should give her the benefit of the doubt--maybe the list is the only information she could find.

Remind the attorney that you HAVE NOT been given enough information to file a claim if you don't even know the name of the insurance company and that you still need information IF she should come across it.

Ask an attorney how you can request this information from her through probate court proceedings.

Visit the MIB website and have a search done for the policies through all major and minor insurance companies in the US for $75.00 fee.

Was this policy perhaps purchased through is employer and was a group policy that the employer may be able to give you information on by contacting his employer for details?

If you have an idea of when (month and year) he may have been making monthly premium payments on this policy if it was one purchased on his own and not through his employment, ask the executor to order copies of cancelled checks/bank statements for that time period so you can examine the checks to see if the name of the insurance company comes up.


DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[badluckben]

Additional Info

Here's the info for your questions:
We were given 2 names of ins. companies. One had one policy, the other had 5 policies.
We were given the ins. company names, the face value of the policy, the beneficiary for each policy. I contacted the companies (along with the Va Ins. Bureau to get phone numbers for the companies) and neither company can find any policies listed for my father-in-law. All the policies were private ones, paid up years ago.(30-35 years ago). I don't think the MIB search would help much because they only go back about 10 years in their data base... When you mentioned talking to lawyer about probate court action, is that the same as filing a claim against the estate and administrator? If she can't find the policies and did in fact lose them, could she be held responsible and accountable for the approx. 19,000 in lost insurance money? I would appreciate any and all comments on our situation. Thanks again.

 

[seniorjudge]

Life insurance proceeds rarely go through probate court but go instead to a beneficiary.

If you cannot prove the policies exist, then you have no case.

 

[Dandy Don]

How do you know for sure that the policies were paid up?

It's possible that he or she could have decided to cash the policies in prematurely to get income.

It's also possible that the original insurance company he purchased the policies with could have been bought out by other insurance companies and thus a name change may have occurred with the new insurance company. Mention the names of the companies and the approximate year that you think the policies would have been paid in full, and I can do some research to see if the insurance companies may perhaps have had name changes subsequently.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])