Submit life or final expense insurance claim

If the deceased person had a policy, you can collect life insurance or annuity benefits. This benefit may go either to the estate or to an individual beneficiary.

Here are the steps and links for filing your claim:

  1. Find the life insurance policy document. See our to-do on finding needed documents. The deceased’s employer may also be able to help with this process. You will also need the death certificate.

  2. Figure out who is the beneficiary or beneficiaries:

    • If there is a named beneficiary, they can connect the policy directly and it is not considered a part of the estate

    • If there is not a named beneficiary, the death benefit can go into a trust for the estate

  3. Decide how you want to be paid:

    • Lump-sum (paid all at once)

      1. Pros:

        1. You don’t have to worry about figuring out how to pay for the funeral and mortgage

        2. You don’t have to pay taxes on it

      2. Cons: Potentially lower payments

    • Annuity (annual payment over several years):

      1. Pros:

        1. Potentially higher payments

        2. May make more sense with your money management style

      2. Cons:

        1. If you die before collecting all of the payments, you may not be able to transfer them

        2. You may have to pay taxes on it

  4. Submit claim form(s). Here are links to the most common forms with their specific instructions:

  5. The insurance company will confirm the information and then either:

    • Pay you in as little as two to three days or as long as two months

    • Send you a larger claims packet with more information for you to fill out, and then pay you

Note: The insurance company may refuse to pay based on:

  1. Contestability - withholding risk information (usually within two years of the policy going into effect)

  2. Suicide - policy may not be paid out if the suicide is committed within two years of the policy going into effect

  3. Homicide - the insurance company will wait until beneficiaries are cleared of wrongdoing

finance, settling affairsJennifer Goodfinance, insurance, financial and propertyComment