A life insurance payout from a loved one can provide a financial lifeline when you need it most. But according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), millions of dollars in life insurance benefits go unclaimed every year.
If you think someone has named you as a beneficiary, knowing how and where to look is crucial.
Here’s how to find out if you are a beneficiary on someone’s life insurance policy.
Start the beneficiary conversation early
Avoid confusion by having an upfront conversation with your partner, parents, older relatives, or other family members about their life insurance policies. If you are a beneficiary, ask them to keep their policy information in a safe place that you both can access, just in case.
If the policyholder has digital copies of their personal information, ask them to ensure you have everything you need to file a claim later. As your loved ones get older, it may be easier for you to request direct access to their records, whether that means a deposit box key, the combination to their safe, or even just a file folder name.
Have a policy yourself? Keep your beneficiaries up to date and make sure they know where to go for information when the time comes.
Search personal documents
In a perfect world, you’d already know if you’re the beneficiary of someone else’s policy and have all the information handy to submit a claim. But as time passes, information and even policies can slip through the cracks.
If your loved one has passed and you think you might be a beneficiary of their life insurance policy, start by checking their personal papers for confirmation.
Look for paperwork in obvious places first, like a computer, desk drawer, files where they keep important documents, and home safes. Check to see if they have a safety deposit box with their local bank. If you can’t find anything, get in touch with any attorneys and finance or tax professionals they’ve worked with and see what they can tell you.
Another solution is to check your loved one’s mail and email. If they’ve been making payments on a policy, a statement or notification of some kind should be easy to locate.
Contact the insurer to file a claim
Once you have the policy information on hand, the next step is to contact the life insurance company directly. If you have been named as a beneficiary, you don’t need much to track down your loved one’s policy, just the name of the provider.
Before you can claim a payout, however, the provider will need to confirm several things:
- Existence of the policy
- Death of the policyholder
- Your relationship to the policyholder
You’ll likely be asked to submit a claims form, a copy of the policyholder’s death certificate and Social Security number, and your ID. If you have supporting information, such as the policy number, issue date, type of policy, or name of the insurance agent, be sure to share it.
Find a lost policy online
If you’ve searched everywhere and can’t find a policy, don’t worry. As long as you think you may be a beneficiary, there are other ways to search for lost policies.
Most states have a registry of active policies from all licensed insurance companies that you can search to request information on any outstanding coverage from your loved one.
To conduct an online search, simply input basic information like your name and contact information, your loved one’s name, and their date of birth and death. The state will pass it on to all providers in the registry. In some cases, you might also be asked to submit a copy of the death certificate.
If there is a match, the issuing life insurance company will get in touch with you, or the contact they have on file if someone else has been named as executor, so you can make a claim.
A few other resources to help you out:
- NAIC’s free policy locator tool
- MIB Group database of policy applications from 1996 to present-day
- The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) directory of state unclaimed property programs
Whether you know you’re a policyholder’s beneficiary or not, it doesn’t hurt to check. Talk to your loved ones about their life insurance policies today so you won’t be left searching later on.
Still have questions?
At Fidelity Life, we’re committed to making life insurance accessible to everyone. Feel free to get in touch with us and speak with an agent about your situation today.
At Fidelity Life, our goal is to make life insurance simple, affordable, and understandable for everyday families. This content is intended for educational purposes only. Each post is carefully fact-checked, reviewed, and updated regularly to ensure the information is as relevant as possible.
