Reader’s Question:

What will happen to my life insurance claim in the event of an unreported death? I have a life insurance policy in Berkeley California CA.

Kimmy

Berkeley, CA

In the event that you die and the insurance company isn’t informed, the policy will lapse. If this is the case, life insurance company will send letters informing the insured that payment was not received and their policy may lapse if this continues. If there will be no response, your insuring company may initiate a search. If there will be no answer, the policy will automatically lapse due to delinquency of payment.

If your beneficiary does not collect death benefits from your life insurance policy and the life insurance company can’t find your beneficiary after a few years, the money is transferred back to the state where the life insurance policy was originally purchased from. The full amount must be turned over to California CA state comptroller department within 3-5 years of the insured death. It will be considered “unclaimed property”, it is put into a bank account.

Most of the time, most insurance companies do try to find the beneficiaries to distribute the death benefits to a database with the names and addresses of lost beneficiaries is located at the state comptroller’s office. Depending on the laws in California CA, you may be able to go online, look in the paper for any unclaimed death benefits, or call the state comptroller or treasurer for information.

In the event that your insurer does not know that you have died, they are not required to turn the money over to the state. If California CA does not have death benefits law in place, the money will remain at the insurance agency and they can continue to search for the beneficiary. It will be very rare for money to be turned over to the state, because most insurance agencies have their own search techniques to find beneficiaries.

I suggest that you shop from websites like this one if you are interested in getting free life insurance quote without any obligation. Here you will be able to evaluate multiple rates from best-in-class life insurance providers – helping you find the best life insurance coverage for you in Berkeley California CA, while also giving you the peace of mind in knowing that your family will be safely covered in the future.