How do I find a life insurance policy after a death?

How can a family find a life insurance policy of a deceased person?

A family looks for an insurer's name in the places a premium would leave a trace, and then asks the insurer. The steps below start at home and move outward, one action each, so they can be done on a phone in short sittings.

The June's Help life insurance checklist

1. Go through the mail, old and new, for an insurer's name on a letter, a premium notice or an annual statement. Set each one aside.
2. Look through bank and credit card statements for regular payments to an insurance company. The Texas Department of Insurance suggests this too.
3. If the family can already open the person's email, search it for the words life insurance, policy, premium and beneficiary.
4. Check the address book, the calendar and the phone for an insurance agent's name.
5. Ask the person's employer, past or present, whether its benefits office knows of any group coverage.
6. Read the NAIC's page on how to use the life insurance policy locator, and note what it asks for.
7. Read the Texas Department of Insurance's life insurance page, which says what to check when a policy is missing.
8. Search Texas unclaimed property too. The guide on that search covers the steps.
9. Write down each lead, the date it was followed up and what the insurer said. When an insurer's letter arrives, photograph it and add it to June's Help.

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners Learn How to Use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator The NAIC's page on how the life insurance policy locator works and what to have ready., official page, opens in a new tab
• Texas Department of Insurance Life insurance The Texas Department of Insurance's page on life insurance, including what to check for a missing policy., official page, opens in a new tab

See also: How do I search Texas unclaimed property after a death?, What goes on a checklist for settling an estate?

What is the life insurance policy locator?

The life insurance policy locator is a service of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, often just called the policy locator. The NAIC page explains how to use it, what it asks for and what happens after a request.

This guide does not repeat the page. A family reads it, decides whether to use it, and keeps a note of the date of the request.

Where in the mail and on statements should a family look?

A policy usually leaves a trace in regular payments, in a yearly statement, or in letters from an insurer. The Texas Department of Insurance's page suggests checking bank statements for payments to insurers, looking for an agent's name in address books or phone directories, and asking a former employer's benefits office about group coverage.

For a person who lived alone, the mail on the table is the best map. A family that did not know the person's accounts can read each envelope for a company name and write the names on one list.

What if the policy came through an employer?

A job often carries group life coverage, so the employer's benefits office is the first call. Ask whether the person was covered, which insurer held the coverage and who the office can talk to. The office decides what it will say.

The same office can say what happened to a retirement plan. The guide on telling banks and companies has the questions that fit that call.

See also: How do I order certified death certificates in Texas?

How do families find a policy when no paperwork turns up?

They work down the same leads and keep a log. The NAIC locator, unclaimed property, an employer and the person's own statements come up again and again. If none yields a name, the family keeps the log, and a lawyer can tell it what else to try.

A reminder: a lead is only a lead until an insurer confirms it in writing.

What does June's Help do when an insurer writes back?

June reads your letters in plain words. For a letter from a life insurance company, the reading names the sender, quotes the letter's own lines, shows the dates printed on it, says what it asks and suggests questions to ask the sender. It links the official pages that go with the letter too.

June's Help also lists official places to look for money, such as the NAIC locator and the Texas unclaimed property search, and the person who signed up sets each one to Searched, or to Claim filed once a claim is filed on the official site. June does not search or file for the family. With the assistant plan, a due date that an insurer's letter prints gets a reminder email, three days before unless the person who signed up picks other days.

See also: What papers to gather after someone dies