Do Life Insurance Claims Expire?
Posted in Life Insurance , Life Insurance Claims
March 30th, 2009
If filing a life insurance claim was on your list of priorities, yet you took a while to get to it, you may be wondering if youve run out of time to file. This is a natural concern because so many deadlines are placed on legal documents. So lets take a closer look at the time constraints on these types of policies.
Do Life Insurance Claims Expire?
Youll be happy to know that if you ever need to file a life insurance claim, but feel that youre running behind schedule because youve waited several months or even several years to file for the proceeds, its not too late. There is actually no deadline life insurance policies do not expire. However, when the time does come to file, you want to make sure that you have an original copy of the death certificate, along with proof that you are the beneficiary, to keep the process from taking any longer than it already has.
What if I Lose the Life Insurance Policy or the Insurance Company Was Bought Out?
So now you know that a life insurance claim does not expire. But what might happen if you lose the life insurance policy or the insurance company was bought out? Lets start with you losing the policy. If for some reason, you cannot find the policy and you are the beneficiary, there are ways that you can track it down. One way is by speaking with the insureds state department of insurance. Another way is by contacting the unclaimed property office. Or you can check for receipts or canceled checks to find the insurance companys name.
Now suppose youve waited several years to file, only to learn that the company was bought out. If this occurs, you can conduct a search online to find out what company bought out the insureds company. Or you can contact the department of insurance to see who the company merged with.
The good news is that now you know that your life insurance claim wont expire, no matter how long you wait. So, your next step is to make sure that when you do file, you have all of the documentation you need to make the process simple.