Processing An Insurance Claim
Improper processing of a life insurance claim will affect the amount of time that it takes for you or your family to receive the funds that you’re entitled to. This can cause a bad situation as you may not be able to pay for a proper funeral or burial without this money. If you understand the process then you may not only be able to secure the money faster but you may be able to negotiate various arrangements for the payment of the money if you need to.
The first step is to contact the insurance company and inform them of the death of the individual. This doesn’t have to be done right away but if you don’t contact the company you won’t be able to get the process started and you will just delay receiving the funds. Within the first 24 hours of death is when you should try to contact the agent at the life insurance company. You may be unsure if the person has a life insurance policy. If this is the case then you should as other family members and the person that is in charge of the affair. In some cases no one may know if the person had a life insurance policy. If this is the case then you will have to try to call local life insurance companies and ask if they have that person on file.
After you’ve notified the agent that the person has passed away you will then have paperwork sent to you or that you can pick up that needs to be filled out. The beneficiary doesn’t have to be the person to fill out the paperwork. However the beneficiary will need to be there to get the payment as well as to verify the claim. If any questions arise during the process of filling out the paperwork you should immediately contact the agent and get an answer so that you don’t delay the funds further.
You will now need to collect an original death certificate. This can usually be obtained from the coroner’s office but sometimes you can receive it from the funeral director as well. You will need to make copies of the death certificate to send to the insurance company as proof that the person has passed away. If the person held multiple life insurance policies then you will most likely need to send one to each company that they had it with. In some circumstances you will be requested to send them the original copy of the death certificate. Unless the company specifically asks for the original for a specific reason you should only send them a copy of the original. Most of the time a copy will suffice for the insurance policy. If you do accidentally send it to the company then you will need to either get it back from them or get another official original document.
You will then want to ask the life insurance company how the payment is going to be made. Each policy is different. Some policies will have a lump sum payment while others will be set up to distribute the money in payments. While this may be more convenient for the company it may hurt your ability to pay for the funeral. Most funerals are held within a week of the person’s passing. If the insurance company has not given the money from the plan before then you should get in contact with them and find out the status of the account.
