How To Find Out If Someone Has Life Insurance
Disclaimer: This guide is a resource if you are considering life insurance best-suited to your background, age, gender, or status.
If you are wondering how to find out if someone has life insurance, it can be difficult to know where to start. It can be very upsetting when a family member or close friend passes away.Dealing with extra paperwork may make the grieving process harder.
However, it is something that has to be done, particularly if you think the person may have had a life insurance policy. Of course, money is nothing compared to having your loved one. But if they had an active insurance policy at the time of passing, and you are a beneficiary or managing the estate, you are entitled to make a claim.
We have created this guide to make the process of finding out whether your loved one had life insurance easy. Aiming to help you as much as possible during the process. It is estimated that over 2.9 million life insurance policies in the UK are at risk of going unclaimed. This adds up to over £230.2 billion worth of benefits in total.
Getting life insurance coverage is something many people forget about, but it is important to have, as you never know what is around the corner.
If you would like to enquire about taking out a life insurance policy with nowsure, our expert team will be able to help you.
How to Find Out if Your Loved One Had a Life Insurance Policy Through Their Employer
Speak to their last place of employment, sometimes life insurance is provided as an employee benefit. Some firms provide ‘death in service’ policies also, which pays out a lump sum if the employee dies whilst working there.
If your loved one had a financial advisor or an accountant, they may also be able to help you.
Go Through Your Loved One’s Paperwork and Bank Statements
When somebody passes away, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be sorted through as part of the probate process.
It is possible that you may come across your loved one’s life insurance documents as you go through their paperwork. This should be the first place you look. You should check bank account statements from the last few years – if your loved one was paying life insurance premiums, there should be evidence of this. Make sure you check all of their bank accounts, as most people tend to have multiple bank or building society accounts nowadays.
You should also go through any credit card statements you find, although it is more likely that premium payments will be paid as a direct debit from a bank account. If you are unable to find anything, you may want to consider going through your loved one’s receipts, as life insurance providers may sometimes supply receipts to policyholders.
If your loved one had a life insurance policy, you should see regular payments to their provider (usually paid monthly).
In most cases, the policy becomes void if you stop making your payments. There are also several other reasons why a life insurance policy may become void – you can find more information about this here.
If you would like to find out more about nowsure’s life insurance policies, our experienced team will be able to help you with your questions.
Use An Unclaimed Assets Service
There are several unclaimed asset services available within the UK that can help you find a range of unclaimed assets and insurance policies. Some of the benefits you can search for include:
– Unclaimed policies (including life insurance policies).
– Unclaimed property.
– Unclaimed winnings.
– Unclaimed shares.
The main service for checking unclaimed assets was the Unclaimed Assets Register (UAR), but unfortunately, the UAR has now closed down. However, there are a range of other services you can use to check for lost life insurance policies. Some platforms may charge a fee to trace unclaimed assets, so it is important you read through your options in full first.
Here are some of the key organisations that can help you find a lost insurance policy:
Gretel –
Gretel is a free platform that can help you look for unclaimed life insurance policies, as well as bank accounts, child trust funds, pensions and other lost insurance policies.
Unclaimed Assets UK –
Unclaimed Assets UK is another organisation that works within the unclaimed assets field. As well as life insurance, you can search for a range of other lost assets, such as dormant bank accounts, unclaimed shares, lost pensions and unclaimed lottery winnings. You can search for lost life insurance policies through Unclaimed Assets UK here.
Policy Detective –
Policy Detective is a useful tool that you can use to look for missing life insurance policies. They are a free service, although you may need to have some information about the missing policy before you start. However, if you know your loved one had a life insurance policy with a certain company, but you are not sure how much it is worth or how to access it, Policy Detective may be able to help you.
Before inputting your details into an unclaimed asset finding website, you should take steps to ensure the organisation is legitimate. It is always important to protect yourself against cyber-crime.
Contact Life Insurance Companies
If you know your loved one had a life insurance policy with a certain provider, they should be able to trace the policy. You will usually need to provide the personal information of the person who had the original policy. If you are not sure who their policy provider was, it may be worth contacting some of the major life insurance companies within the UK, as they may be able to trace an unclaimed life insurance policy for you.
There are many different life insurance providers based within the UK. It may take you some time to find the right one.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has a list of life insurance companies active in the UK, so it may be worth going through this list in order to try and trace your loved one’s missing life insurance policy. The ABI may also be able to provide additional help if you are unable to trace the policy, so it is worth contacting them regardless.
Your loved one may have had a life insurance policy with a mutual or friendly society. These organisations offered savings products with low premiums, and were popular several years ago. Whilst many mutuals/friendly societies have ceased operating now (usually by merging or transferring into other organisations), a full list of mergers and transfers is maintained by the Association of Financial Mutuals.
What Should You Do Once You Have Traced an Unclaimed Life Insurance Policy?
Once you have worked out who your loved one’s life insurance policy provider was, you should contact them and make your claim. There is usually no time limit in which a policy must be claimed. If it has been some time since the death of your loved one, contact the insurer as they may be able to consider the claim. However, you are required to send the death certificate off to prove that your loved one has passed on.
Anyone can make an enquiry, but the person in charge of the estate will usually have to be the one to make an official claim. Unless you are a named beneficiary of the life insurance policy. Most life insurance providers will be happy to help, but there are several things you will usually need to provide when claiming on someone’s life insurance:
– The name of the deceased.
– Their policy number (if you have it).
– A completed claim form.
– The policy documents (if you have them).
– The death certificate.
You may have to provide additional details about the deceased if you are unable to supply the policy number or documentation. Life insurance policies are usually purchased years before they are claimed, so it is common for people to lose their documentation.
Life insurance provider employees are used to speaking to grieving people, so they should be respectful and helpful when you contact them.
Get the Answers You Need, When You Need Them
If you would like to make an enquiry about taking out your own life insurance policy, this is also something nowsure can help with. Contact us on 0800 033 4187 to get a free quote today.
