Life assurance company says "NO!"

neildonn

My wife's first husband died about six years ago, she forgot all about the life assurance. Until recently we moved home and she informed them change of address. In the conversataion her first husband was mentioned and my wife informed them he died about six years ago. At that point they stopped/cancelled his assurance, the operator said she should telephone this other phone number to claim.

My wife did but they are saying she cannot claim. My question is, since she has been paying his life assurance upto now, can she still make that claim? Is she intitled for that claim? If so should she get in contact with them again and the Finacial Ombudsman?

Cheers,

Neil.

Quentin

She cannot claim on his policy if she wasn't the beneficiary to it in his will. If she was and the policy was never cashed in, then she needs to pursue a claim plus the refund of the premiums paid since the death.

Even if she isn't entitled to the proceeds of the policy, but she has been mistakenly been paying the premiums since his death, then they should be returned.

poet123

What reason did the company give to your wife for not being able to claim? was it a time issue?or the fact that she was not named on the policy?

dunstonh

If the life policy was still in force and the life assured was your wifes first husband then the insurance company should refund the premiums since death to the account they were debited from. They should then pay the sum assured on death to the owner of the policy. If your wife is the policy owner then she would get the proceeds. If the first husband was the policy owner then the proceeds go to his estate and are distributed in accordance with his will. That is unless the policy is in trust in which case the trust rules will apply.

If your wife is not the policy owner then an easy error could occur here. The life company may add the premiums paid since death onto the sum assured and pay it to the beneficiary. If your wife is not the beneficiary then she needs to make sure the insurance company is aware that they should refund the premiums to the bank account that paid them and not pay it with the sum assured.

neildonn

Thank you dunstonh for your very quick reply. We will look into it.

The reason (I've just asked the wife, I had to pick her up from work :rolleyes:) they gave her was that they would not pay thousands out before october last year.

Anyway, we will have a look at the policy.

Thankx

Neil.