MIL's lots of little 50p a week insurance policies?

Jacks_xxx

Hiya lovelies,

I'm hoping someone can help me.

(Apologies for the big print but I have bad eye sight and make fewer typos this way.)

I am going through my mother in laws finances and trying to make sense of it all. (she's still alive btw)

She seems to have a lot of little insurances that she has paid 50p a week into - or less - for about 50 years and some of them say they pay out £200 or some similar amount which I'm sure sounded fab in 1959 but isn't worth much to her now.

I'm going to get into contact with all the companies involved but can anyone tell me anything about these types of insurance, what info I need to give the insurance company and particularly whether she's likely to be able to cash these in , and whether she should? It can't be worth still paying into them surely?

A couple of them have her late husband's name on - he died in 1993.

Apologies for the fishing expedition , but I have to speak to the "insurance man" who comes round to collect her money and I'm hoping to know a little about all this by then.

Thanks ever so much in advance,

Love Jacks xxx

doodle-bug_2

The first thing that you need to do is to draft a letter that she can sign giving you permission to look into her affairs concerning these insurance policies. The companies are unlikely to give you any help at all unless you have this to hand.

I'm in a similar situation at the moment - my parents (mum recently died) had undertaken several policies with one company, and I'm sorting out paperwork for my father. The company have traced a few of them, but still have some to go!

Best of luck - let us know how you get on.

Jacks_xxx

Thanks honeybun,

I'm sorry to hear about your mum. It was losing both my grandmothers, an uncle and a good friend all in the same month which has prompted me to ask MIL about her finances - and I was very surprised when she asked us for help. Usually she avoids anything worrying or difficult.

Are you getting eye strain from reading all this legalese as well as me?

The policies are all Industrial Assurances - whatever they maybe .

Two of them she's been paying since 1959.

One of them says "until the age of 65 or death whichever is the sooner " a lot on it but I can't make out if she should have stopped paying it at age 65 or if it should have paid out at age 65. (She's 78)

One of them is a Quintennial policy which she has had some pay outs from every five years but she says she usually just tells the insurance man to reinvest the payouts as it was only usually £5 or £10

One of them says it pays out a guaranteed sum of £67 and she's paid £588 into it. I can't find anything to say that she'll get more than £67 out of it.

And one of them is supposed to cover funeral expenses but it's only guaranteed to pay out £200.

The insurance man didn't know anything - he just collects the money, so we phoned the companies on speaker phone and they are sending out some info so I can't really do much until that comes.

Love Jacks xxx