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Unclaimed life insurance policies are something that does happen. There are many that will assume that just by having a lie insurance policy that the family is going to be taken care of upon the passing of the insured. The problem with that line of thinking is that if there isn’t someone that is left alive that knows of the policy and where the paperwork is it’s very likely that the insurance money that is left behind is going to go unclaimed.

Situations That Lead to Missing Policies

Those that signup for a private life insurance policy or have their life insurance through their employer as part of their benefits package have the misconception that the money will automatically be distributed to the named beneficiaries when they die; however, there are many things that you can easily fix to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Here are just some of the reasons why this occurs:

• Failure to update mailing address
• Not updating information with your life insurance company after a move
• Failing to mention the policy to your family
• No mention of the policy in your will
• Failure to update beneficiaries on the policy if one of them should die before you
• More

Finding Lost Funds

If you are the will executor or if you know that you were on someone’s life insurance policy as a beneficiary it’s important and worth it to make sure you are able to locate the policy so that the benefits are able to be distributed.

Here are some tips:

• Check Everywhere – A lot of the time people will file the life insurance policy away and just forget about it with just paying the premium payment when the bill comes. Check any safe deposit boxes as this is often a standard.
• Contact Employer – If you know or think that the past had their life insurance policy through their employer this is a great place to look. Make sure to check with all of the employers in order to make the determination on whether or not they had a policy when they worked there.
• Ask Around – Often the life insurance companies are trying to find the beneficiaries as well, not just the beneficiaries themselves. Check with insurance companies that you think they might have done business with. Regardless of what happens the only thing you stand to lose is the time to place a quick phone call.

The Money

The insurance company has the obligation to send past due notices, track down the insured and if they learn the insured is dead they have to track down the named beneficiaries. No matter what happens though the insurance company doesn’t get to just keep the unclaimed life insurance policy money; however, if it can’t be proven or shown that the insured has died the money stays at the insurance company until it can be proved otherwise.

You’ll find that in most states after 3-5 years of time and nobody has been tracked down the insurance company has to transfer the money to the state. After this time someone can claim the money from the state as long as they have the proper identification.

Final Thoughts

It’s important when you’re going through your life insurance that you leave very clear instructions on your life insurance policy, where it is kept, etc… By doing this it will make sure that it is much easier on those that you leave behind in that they’ll be taken care of as well as your final wishes being carried out as you had wanted.