What you need to know about unclaimed life insurance.

Often at times, policyholders fail to mention their life insurance policies to their families or beneficiaries and when they die the money goes unclaimed. As compared to term life insurance where the policy expires after a set number of years, whole life policies get paid up which means they have accumulated sufficient cash value as premiums for the rest of the policyholder’s life.

When the policyholder passes on, the beneficiaries are required to notify the insurance company in order to claim the payout. In cases where the beneficiaries cannot be traced, the unclaimed benefits are handed over to the state.

Usually, there’s a limiting age on insurance policies after which insurance companies assume the policyholder died. Currently, the limiting age is 120. Three years after an insured person reaches the limiting age and no claim is made on the policy or no contact made with the policyholder insurers turn the policy proceeds to the state.

At Charlotte, NC, Jim Boyce Insurance, we have adopted the new requirements which demand insures to undertake retroactive searches on death records, despite its major challenge of matching names.

If you believe a departed family member had a life insurance policy which you cannot find, you can consider getting search services of the state or a private individual or use the policy locator service of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.

As a policyholder, it is therefore important to update your contact information and mailing address with your insurance company anytime there are changes, provide information of your life insurance company to your beneficiaries to facilitate filing of claims in case of death and keep clear records of any notices with regards to change of name, location or contact information of your life insurance company so that it does not end up being unclaimed.