How Long Does A Beneficiary Have To Claim A Life Insurance Policy? People waste time in claiming the life insurance payout that’s in their name for so many reasons and in some other cases, a person might also not be aware that he is the beneficiary of a loved one.
However, if months or years has already passed, is there any need for the beneficiary to be concerned or worried that he or she might miss out on the benefit. The answer to this question up there is NO because there is no time limit to when a beneficiary can receive life insurance payout.
This is because as long as the life insurance policy remained active till the death of the insured person meaning that all premiums were paid then the insurance company has no grounds to dismiss the claims.
You would get the money if you are beneficiary regardless of how long you have delayed but if you want to get the money sooner enough then it would be better if you file for claim early enough. If you want to start a claim then you need to get a call across to the insurance company or in some cases, start up the online process.
How Long Does A Beneficiary Have To Claim A Life Insurance Policy
You need to make contact with the insurance company if your loved on has passed away (if you are aware that you are the beneficiary) or even if you suspect that you are the beneficiary and depending on the company that you are dealing with, you might need to go online request them to mail a claim form to you. This allows some beneficiaries to start up the claims process online and in some cases, there might be more than one beneficiary so each beneficiary should fill a claim form each to receive their payout.
How Long Does A Claim Take?
You might be asking how long the claims process would take and the answer is it lasts between a week to two months. There are so many reasons that might lead to the delay of the insurance life payout and sending in the wrong form is a popular reason.
Investigating the claim if what caused the death of the insured person is homicide might also take a longer process by the insurance company and this is done so as to figure out if the person who wants to receive the payout has a hand in the death of the insured person.
There are also cases where the firm in question here might decide not to payout the claim. There is something referred to as the contestability period and this refers to the death of the insured person two years after taking out the insurance.
What this simply means is that the insurance company has the rights to review the medical history of the deceased person to check if the health conditions are the same as the ones documented in his insurance records. Insurers also look out for other causes of death.
These causes could be risky activities like skydiving which the owner of the policy did not disclose to the insurance company and the insurance company also has the right to withhold the life insurance payout if the policy holder committed suicide. One thing insurance companies struggle with is beneficiaries not knowing they have access to a particular amount of money after the death of their loved one. If you want to be sure you have been used as a beneficiary then you can check online using the National Association Of Insurance Commissioners Life Insurance Policy Locator Service.
This would provide a list of beneficiaries with matching insurance policies and even though this service is free for all, it might take up to months for anyone to get a response. There is also a very good chance that the insurance company would find out about the death of your loved one even without you contacting them.
This is because most insurance companies are mandated to check every month their customer’s list with the Social Security Administration Death File to find out if any of their customers have passed on.
Bottom Line
If you have found out that you are the beneficiary of a loved one that has passed away then you need to relax because there is no time frame attached to receiving the money. There are couple of reasons why receiving the money might get delayed which is why it is advisable for you to gather more information so you can round up with the claims process sooner than later.
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