Tracking Death Benefit Coverage

[Vandar]

Indiana: Is there any way in which a child can determine if a parent had an life insurance policy when they died and who the beneficiaries were? Problems involved here include the fact that the person died many years ago, death of knowledgable relatives and estrangement from others. Are there any entities which might keep track of this type of information and if so, what information would be needed to access this information? Thank you.

 

[ALawyer]

There is no central registry.

The estate -- if large enough --may have had to file an estate tax return, or if there was no beneficiary named, it would have been paid to the estate and the probate file may have some data in it.l

 

[Vandar]

Hmm....."no central registry"...

The estate if there were enough to call an estate, would probably be the result of a life insurance claim resulting from the death of the a child's mother. What I'm trying to do is obtain proof that the mother (custodial parent) left a policy with her children being named as beneficiaries.

The problem is that this happened many years ago and any original documentation has been lost. I was hoping there would be a way to trace a possible claim.

Thanks again!