Life Insurance Refuses To Pay, Need Help Fast!!! Desperate

My Sister bought Life Ins in AL in the name she used all the time (her legal second name and last name).  She died 12/31/12. The children had her full name put on death certificate at funeral home (in TN) because they thought it was the "right" thing to do.  Now the life ins co rufuses to pay because they say it is not the same person.  My sister  hated her first name.  Two of her children called me tonight extremely upset and asked me to help.  I am going to get a copy of her birth certificate tomorrow (if they will give me one).  The kids have all of her other info.  Shouldn't this be enough to make the ins co pay?  They know this is the same person.  They are just delaying the claim because my niece and nephews do not know how to stand up for themselves.  Would certified sworn statements from family members along with the paperwork be enough with the birth certificate? The agent said something to the affect it would just sit on his desk.  That agent has not met me.  It is sad that someone would have to threaten to sue for life insurance which is clearly due these 3 adult children of my sister.  It is a small city and the agent talked to my sister extensivly.  It is not a large policy so the kids can't afford to pay a lot to an attorney because there will not be enough left to  pay the funeral home.  COULD THE DEATH CERTIFICATE BE CHANGED AND NOT HAVE HER FIRST NAME?  Please help.  It has been 8 wks and the funeral home told them 30 days when they made arrangements.  I was with them at the time.  Thank you for any help and thank you for your time.        

Suggestion:

There is a certain amount of correctness that the insurance firm needs to be sure to pay unpon confirmation that the right person died and to some extent the agent is correct.

I think this is one place where sugar is better than salt at least for now --but rather than have insurance firm dictate an expensive barrel of sugar  it may be smarter for somebody with a level head to have an oral discussion with somebody in the firm and suggest --

Clarabell Babara Smith for her entire life preferred the use of Barbara Smith and there is no question that they are one and the same  but we understand you need to to confirm this as well  --we can supply copies of birth certificate, death certificate, notarized affidavits from 2 close friends who are NOT beneficiaries or related to same  --will that suffice --or if not what do you think you need in addition---and then confirm that in writing w copies and get it done.

I don't think you need an attorney at $250/hr just yet to navigate a bureaucratic system but I do think you need somebody with a level head and a polite manner.

Technically I doubt one needs to be the formal administrator or executor of his estate just to sort out what paperwork is needed to confirm a claim that the insured is now deceased  but I'd not invite any such debate about official capacity in talking to insurance firm

As a technical aside --the policy is supposed to be paid directly to the named beneficiaries and unless the estate was the named payee then its not necessarily true that these funds go to pay the funeral expenses...

Why is anybody talking to an "agent" about this?

An "agent" sells the policy on a local level.

He is not the claims department which is typically located at the insurance company's home office.

The beneficiary that's named on the policy should be dealing with the home office claims department and not the local "agent."

The policy itself should have the location of the home office and a toll free number for the claims department or you can look up all you need to know about the insurance company on the A. M. Best website:

http://www.ambest.com/homepage.asp

Once the beneficiary gets a claim opened with the right claim rep, the claim rep ought to be able to help piece together the information needed to settle the claim.

Keep in mind, though, that properly identifying the deceased is critical and if your sister messed things up it's not going to happen overnight.

If you continue to have problems, contact the Tennessee Department of Insurance for assistance.

http://www.state.tn.us/commerce/index.shtml

I agree 98% --but unless you have a copy of the policy you might not be positive about the name of the beneficiary and if for some reason the named payee is the estate  there might not yet be a proper person to represent the estate --it may be possible to get the correct answer to a generic question of what is acceptable /required documentation  thru the company  home office by being nice

Use some politeness and smarts before just sticking foot into mouth with demands.

Thank you, this sounds like the best way to approach the situation.  I got a copy of my sister's birth certificate Friday.  I got my also because we were born in the same house, had the same doctor etc.  We lived in the country and our certificates are hand written so everything isn't completed the way insurnace companies like; however, I am sure they see these all the time.  I did look up the company online and was going to give the number to my nephew.  The youngest son has been named to handle the affairs; however, these adult children have never handled anything and have no sense of investigation or fact finding skills.  Being that her maiden name is on the birth certificate will bring on proof of marriage or divorce, I'm afraid even though (I think) they know who they sold the policy to and who died.  My sister should have given the insurance company certain information and advised the kids of the exact information that should have at the time of her death.  She died of pancreatic cancer.  It was awful, she only lived eigtht months after she found out and died a painful death in my arms. It was almost more than I could bare.  I would have asked her if she needed to clarify any information on anything but she was in so much pain and I thought all the information needed would be in her personal papers the kids would find later.  I am glad I went back to my maiden name years ago and my son gets mad at me for always showing him where everything is and who to contact etc.  I also give him copies. NOW I HAVE THE PROBLEM OF FINDING A WEB SITE THAT CAN FIND WHERE SHE WAS MARRIED.  HOW DOES ONE FIND WHERE SOMEONE WAS MARRIED?  SHE NEVER TOLD ANYONE WHERE SHE GOT MARRIED.  I have searched for days.  I even joined one site for a fee and still could not find her.  I checked my history on the site and I wasn't there so I know the site didn't have complete records.  I know when and where I was married.

Thank you so much for your time and you information.  My nephew has called.  They are just waiting on me to find out something and I don't think I am going to ever find out what they need.  However,  tomorrow, I will try to contact the HO of the insurance company and advise my nephew to do the same.

Thank you again!

   &nbs...

Thank you so much for your information.  I wish my niece had contacted me a month ago.  It wouldn't seem so strange if they weren't asking about her first name; however, I understand ID is important.  My sister should have put all the information on the policy and she should have given her children all the information they would need because she knew they did not have the type of personality to question a delay.  They just waited.  I got her birth certificate and mine. We lived in the country and were born at home.  The birth certificates are hand written so some of the information is hard to read.

I am sure they will want more information.  Her last marriage was one of those things that wasn't going to go over to well so she just left for two weeks.  It was in 1985 or 86.  She never told anyone where she got married.  She was staying with me at the time. I have no way of contacting her ex husband.

I have had no luck on web sites and don't know if there is one that really can find someone.

I really need to find out something because it will take forever and cost a lot of money requesting online to different states being that she had been married before, I am not sure what last name she used when she got married.  This is just a nightmare. 

Thank you again for your information and advise........ I will be nice!  &nbsp...

Thank you so much for your response and information.  I don't think there is a problem about who gets the money.  She made that part plain and had added just a small sum for each grandchild a few years ago.  Her kids are on the policy.  She bought it just for them and did without a lot of things just to pay the premiums.

I guess she thought just putting the name she had used for so many years would never present a problem.  She never liked people asking about her personal life.  She should have made this one exception or at least updated everything at the end.  I guess that never entered her mind after she heard pancreatic cancer.  Most of the women live to be in their 90's or more. My grandmother 100 and my father 95 so it was a complete shock to us all and it was already at stage4.  She only lived 8 months so you can imagine what all she was going through with treatments and doctors just to be sent home to die. She died in my arms.  I never thought about asking her if she had all her "papers" in order but by then she would not have understood what I was talking about.

Thank you again for your information.  I don't know what to do except keep digging for info online.  I am afraid I won't be able to help.  

gthing:

Her last marriage was one of those things that wasn't going to go over to well so she just left for two weeks.  It was in 1985 or 86.  She never told anyone where she got married.  She was staying with me at the time. I have no way of contacting her ex husband.

"Ex husband" kind of implies that she got divorced at some point. You might have an easier time finding divorce records and back tracking from there.

Make a list of all the counties that she's lived in for the past 25 years (as many as you can) and start with their court websites. Many court websites have case search features.

I 'm not so sure you need to reconstruct her entirel life history --somebody needs to construct a reasonable proof that the person who died is the person named as insured on the policy  is suficient detail for the insurance firm to be confident they are now required to pay out --and that "might" be a question of polite asking firm for what it needs and what you have already.

It doesn't matter what the funeral home told them; the funeral home isn't the insurance company.  No one should have been expecting life insurance proceeds in any short period of time.  The notion that someone needs help "fast" is unfortunate, but someone needs to do an expectation management adjustment; this is not in actuality an urgent matter, and the kids shouldn't be making plans to pay X bills of their mother's or their own with this money. 

I can't fathom why a funeral home would have any input whatever into what the local vital statistics folks or doctor put on a death certificate.  I think you may be referring to an obituary; otherwise, I'd tell the funeral home they need to be more precise. 

At any rate, it's unclear why you'd care to worry about marriage (or divorce) records if she bought a policy and named her kids as beneficiaries.

If the name she applied for the policy is her legal name, even a legal alias vs. a name to which she had a court change it to, then I'd focus on that.  I'd make sure correspondence is in writing, and note that unless it's one of the kids corresponding with her, it should otherwise be whomever has a letter of testamentary/administration from the probate court.  I'd write to VP of claims dept. vs. agent if the insurance company is refusing to cough up the dough.  I'd send certified mail and show on the letter that a copy went regular mail, and I'd cc the VP of customer relations and the "general counsel" of the company.

FallenM:

I'd write to VP of claims dept. vs. agent if the insurance company is refusing to cough up the dough.  I'd send certified mail and show on the letter that a copy went regular mail, and I'd cc the VP of customer relations and the "general counsel" of the company.

If there's a discrepancy between the Named Insured on the policy and the name on the death certificate it's up to the beneficiaries to clear that up with appropriate documentation.

You can cc the Pope and it isn't going to speed things up any faster than it takes to properly identify the deceased and the beneficiaries.

As I said, I think the poster's possibly talking about an obituary vs. a death certificate.  If her legal name/alias is X and she applied as that but the doctor/vital stats folks made out a death certificate as Y, naturally one will have to get an amended death certificate if the insurance company wants to play games and pretend they aren't talking about the same person.  (I say it is playing games if the woman applied as X and an obituary mentions Y; they're naturally on solid ground playing games if the death certificate mentions Y.)

Just from the standpoint of someone who works for an insurance company, some companies have what are called servicing agents. They do not sell policies, they assist people with claims. It is not that companies do not want to pay. It is that we have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt who the claim is for. I personally have talked to people who have had life claims filed on them and then they call in to say they they are still alive. People do strange things. That is why we require everything to be exact.

FallenM:

As I said, I think the poster's possibly talking about an obituary vs. a death certificate.  If her legal name/alias is X and she applied as that but the doctor/vital stats folks made out a death certificate as Y, naturally one will have to get an amended death certificate if the insurance company wants to play games and pretend they aren't talking about the same person.  (I say it is playing games if the woman applied as X and an obituary mentions Y; they're naturally on solid ground playing games if the death certificate mentions Y.)

You can characterize it as playing games and pretending but the life insurance company isn't doing anything wrong by requiring proper identification of the deceased regardless of how inconvenient it is to the beneficiary.

By the way, I don't know why you are even bringing up obituaries. A death claim requires a claim form signed by the beneficiaries and a certified copy of the death certificate. Obituaries are irrelevant.

If the beneficiaries are unable to come up with the proper identification of the deceased, then the claim check will either be made out to "The Estate of the Name on the Policy" and the beneficiaries will have to probate the check or the check will be made out to the probate court itself for proper handling.

Makes sense that life insurance firm is certain the named  party is dead before they pay out to the named benificaires --what seems to be your hang up is sorting out what the insurance firm needs to move the ball forward.

Odds are they may want an "offical" death certificate--with a raised seal or whatever affirmation is locally provided, not just a nice copy  --thier own forms  probably notarized and some way to link the names the person used? --- Upon the insured's death, the insurer requires acceptable proof of death before it pays the claim. The normal minimum proof required is a death certificate, and the insurer's claim form completed, signed (and typically notarized)