Uncovering Missing Life Insurance: A Comprehensive Guide To Find Policies

If you believe you are a beneficiary of a deceased loved one's life insurance but are unsure where the policy is stored, there are several steps you can take to find it. It's important to start looking into unclaimed life insurance as soon as possible, as insurance companies will continue to charge payments until a claim is filed. There are free tools and personal resources available to help you with your search. Here are some ways to find a missing life insurance policy:

Search personal records

Searching through personal records is a good way to find a missing life insurance policy. Here are some steps you can take:

Check Mail and Email

Check the deceased person's mail and email for life insurance documents, premium or dividend notices, and annual notices regarding the status of the policy.

Review Bank Statements

Look for bank statements as these may show the payment of life insurance premiums. Check for checks or automatic drafts to life insurance companies.

Examine Tax Returns

Review the deceased's tax returns for the past two years for records of interest income or expenses paid to life insurance companies. Life insurance companies pay interest on permanent policies and chart interest on policy loans.

Inspect Safe Deposit Boxes

Safe deposit boxes often contain important documents like life insurance policies. However, gaining access to another person's safe deposit box usually requires a court order.

Search Digital Storage

If you shared any digital storage with the deceased, check external hard drives or cloud-based documents for the policy. However, keep in mind that password-protected or encrypted files may be challenging to access.

Contact Financial Advisors

Reach out to the deceased's financial advisors, such as their accountant, attorney, financial planner, or banker. These professionals may have information about their life insurance purchases.

Check with Automotive and Home Insurers

People often purchase multiple types of insurance from the same company. Contact the deceased's automotive and home insurance providers to inquire if they also had a life insurance policy with them.

Review Employer Information

If the deceased was employed, contact their employer to find out if they offered group life insurance or supplemental insurance. Even if the person was retired, you can check with their former employer to see if the group life insurance policy is still active.

Reach out to Trade Unions and Professional Associations

Trade unions, veterans' associations, alumni associations, and other professional groups sometimes offer group life insurance to their members. Contact any organisations the deceased was affiliated with to inquire about potential life insurance coverage.

Contact financial advisors

If you are the beneficiary, legal representative, or executor of the deceased's will or estate, you can contact their financial or legal advisors to help you find a lost life insurance policy. These professionals might include a financial planner or other financial advisors, tax professionals, or lawyers.

If you are in touch with the deceased's executor, they can contact the financial advisor on your behalf. However, you may have to provide proof of identity and a copy of the death certificate. If you have access to the deceased's documents, you can review them to find any information related to life insurance. For example, you may see premium payments on bank statements or other records, or interest paid from a permanent life insurance policy reported on tax forms.

If you cannot find a copy of the policy itself, you can contact insurance companies directly, asking them to check if a policy exists under the deceased's name. You can also search for unclaimed policies and contact the deceased's past employers to see if they provided life insurance as an employee benefit.

If you are unsure whether the deceased had a life insurance policy, you can also talk to people outside of the immediate family, such as friends, spiritual leaders, doctors, or social groups they were part of.

Check with automotive and home insurers

If you're trying to find missing life insurance, it's worth checking with automotive and home insurers. If your loved one had any insurance policies, it's likely that they used the same company for multiple types of insurance. So, if you know who their automotive or home insurer was, it's worth reaching out to them to see if they can help. They may have records of any life insurance policies the deceased owned or be able to point you in the right direction.

To make the process easier, gather as much information as you can before reaching out. This includes the deceased's personal information, such as their full name, date of birth, date of death, and last known address. You may also need to provide a death certificate and your own identification.

It's also worth checking the deceased's financial records, including bank statements and tax returns, for any payments made to insurance companies. This can help you identify which companies to reach out to and provide evidence of existing policies.

You can also try contacting the deceased's financial or legal advisors, such as their accountant, attorney, financial planner, or banker. These individuals may have records of the deceased's life insurance purchases or be able to direct you to the relevant insurance company.

In addition, there are several online tools and services that can help you in your search. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) offers the Life Insurance Policy Locator Service, a free tool that allows you to search for unclaimed life insurance policies using the deceased's personal information. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) also offers a similar search tool on their website, MissingMoney.com, which aggregates state records of unclaimed funds.

Contact trade unions

If you believe your loved one was a member of a trade union, contacting them is a good step to take in your search for a missing life insurance policy. Trade unions, veterans' associations, alumni associations, and other types of professional and social organizations sometimes offer group life insurance to their members.

If you are unsure whether your loved one was a member of any trade unions, you can try to find out by checking their personal records and documents, including mail, bank statements, and tax returns. These records may also contain evidence of any life insurance policies held by your loved one.

Once you have identified the relevant trade unions or other professional associations, you can contact them directly to inquire about any group life insurance policies they may offer to their members. It is a good idea to provide as much information as possible about your loved one, such as their name, member ID or number, and date of death.

In addition to contacting trade unions, you can also try reaching out to other organizations that your loved one may have been affiliated with, such as religious or spiritual groups, social clubs, or other professional associations. These organizations may have offered group life insurance or may have information about your loved one's insurance coverage.

Remember to be persistent in your search and don't be afraid to ask for help. Locating a missing life insurance policy can be challenging, but by following these steps and reaching out to the right people and organizations, you can increase your chances of finding the information you need.

Check online databases

There are several online databases that can help you find missing life insurance. Here are some suggestions:

National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

The NAIC has a free online Life Insurance Policy Locator Service that helps beneficiaries find policies and claim their payouts. To use this service, you must provide the deceased's legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, date of death, and your relationship to the deceased. NAIC will then ask participating insurers to search their databases for a match. If a match is found and you are a named beneficiary, the insurer will contact you directly with further steps. This process can take several months.

State Unclaimed Property Office

When a life insurance company is aware of a policyholder's death but cannot locate the beneficiary, they must transfer the death benefit to the state where the policy was purchased as "unclaimed property". You can search your state's unclaimed property database, especially if you know or can guess the state where the policy was purchased. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) provides a search tool that will direct you to your state's database.

MIB Group

The MIB Group is an insurance membership corporation that offers a fee-based service to help locate missing life insurance policies. They maintain a database of life insurance application information going back to 1996. For a $75 fee, you can submit a request to their Policy Locator Service to find out which insurance company the deceased applied to for coverage. However, this does not guarantee that a policy was purchased.

State Insurance Departments

Some state insurance departments offer their own search tools to help locate missing life insurance policies. These include California, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Oregon. After submitting a request, the department will forward the information to life insurance companies licensed to operate in that state. If a policy is found, the insurer will contact the beneficiary or search for the policy's beneficiary. Keep in mind that these searches are only helpful if the policy was purchased in the same state.

Life Insurance Company Websites

Some major life insurance companies provide online search tools or policy locators on their websites to assist potential beneficiaries in determining their eligibility for benefits. Companies that offer policy locators include John Hancock, MetLife, and New York Life. It is worth checking the website of the insurance company you believe is associated with the policy.

Frequently asked questions