Unclaimed Assets

[cmscott]

What is the name of your state? WA

My Mother has a refund from an insurance company in the California Unclaimed Assets. She passed away in 2001.

1) Why would a life insurance refund be issued and how can I find out about it when I don't have the policy only her name, address, and SSN#?

2) My mother always listed her life insurance with my father as the beneficiary and me as contingency. They are both deceased. Would I be entitled to any proceeds or would they revert to my father's estate which my aunt has control of?

Thank You

 

[Dandy Don]

Refund is probably issued because your mother died before she fininshed paying for her life insurance policy in full--company is most likely refunding the premium payments she already paid in. It won't do much good to contact the insurance company about this because of the age of the information they have probably already thrown away the files when they reported it to the unclaimed assets office in California.

What is the total amount to be received? What documentation is the unclaimed office asking for from you?

You will need to file to become executor of her estate (or hire an attorney to do it) and soon after filing you get a document called letters testamentary, which you would then present to the unclaimed property office and they issue the check. Check at the county courthouse probate office to find out if there are simplified procedures for probating a smaller estate and what the financial limit is to be considered a smaller estate.

Since they can't pay a dead beneficiary, the money would not go to your father's estate. You can also claim this money of your mother's--since no beneficiary was paid, it reverts back to her estate.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])