Policy question...

[Life Hawk]

Ran into something new yesterday while doing some policy research for a newer client.

Lady had some old Rockford to Reliable to Monumental to Trans policies. Was checking CV on some paid up $1K policies. Her son, named after his father had a policy as well issued when he was born. While checking on this policy, I was informed that a claim had been made against it... the son is standing right next to me so that he could give permission for me to obtain the information, the father is the one that passed.

I didn't have time to get passed over to claims from where I was, took over 40 min. to get where I was in the process so leaving that for a rainy day.

My question is... if a company makes a mistake and pays out on the wrong person... doesn't it still have a contractual responsibility to provide remedy to the original insured? Legal weeds now I know, but wondering if anyone else has had experience or heard of case like this?

 

[WinoBlues]

Cool case.

Guess - the company has to mske right with the owner. Now will they go after the beneficiary? Is the Bene mom?

Keep us updated.

 

[Life Hawk]

Cool case.

Guess - the company has to mske right with the owner. Now will they go after the beneficiary? Is the Bene mom?

Keep us updated.

Not sure. She doesn't remember, but this has been years ago. Never heard of such a thing. It must be because of the age of the policy and the number of times it has been passed from company to company.

I will say this though, she has kept her policies and the updates that were made for each time they changed hands, and the original policy (2 pages... that long ago) is very clear that it was the son that was covered and not the father.

 

[goillini52]

Legal weeds now I knowQUOTE]


Yes, since 1/1/2020.

 

[Life Hawk]

You must live in IL.

 

[LostDollar]

Caveat, not an agent.

One thing I might do if I were in that situation (ie -- son), If my parents have/had not lived in a lot of different states, is to make a list of the states they had lived in between the time of my birth and the death of my father, and do searches on each state's unclaimed property website (each states variant on "The Great Treasure Hunt") and see if there was an insurance policy showing up -- on the theory the insurance company might have initiated claims activity from social security death records -- or something.

I know that sounds like "another flaky LD idea", but:

Sometime last year, on a whim, I was running some relatives' names through the Kansas site and I came up with something that sounded like insurance proceeds for a Great Uncle that died 25-35 years ago. I got the information passed on to a 2nd or 3rd cousin I've not met. Don't know if he ever did anything with it or not.

 

[goillini52]

From the Lincoln Heritage website on ways to find out if someone has a life insurance policy.

How To Find Out If Someone Has Life Insurance (e.g. Deceased Parent)