Life insurance and hospital plan

ollyevie0305

Hi this is the first time I have used this site but was hoping someone could help. My brother in law died recently whilst we were on holiday and my sister is having problems with both his life insurance and hospital plan. Firstly she paid for a hospital plan through her work and on the death of her husband she will receive a cheque for £10,000. The company will pay the money to her but will only send a cheque to the executors of of late husband, barclays have closed his account and will not let her open an executor account, she banks with Yorkshire Bank herself What should she do?

She has her life insurance from Legal and General and the questions they are asking are disgusting, firstly they asked for his flight tickets, name and addresses of the people who travelled with him including small children and a copy of his autopsy report. They have now asked for the name and addresses of 2 people who have attended his funeral. She has explained she was never given the autopsty report just a death certificate stating he died from a heart attack but they are stating they need the autopsy report. He died in Spain and his death certificate is in Spanish.

As you can appreciate she is starting to get very upset and worried over money as she is only getting statutory sick pay and has nearly run of the money she and her husband did have.

Sorry for the long post but we really need help. He didn't leave a will and his wife, dad and 2 children survive him.:mad:

Magg1e

Hi, I work for an insurance company and the reason that they can only pay to an executor (or administrator) is probably the amount of the benefit. My company need a Grant of Probate for benefits £10,000 and above. If your brother in law didn't leave a will then there is no executor (it's an administrator appointed according to intestacy laws).
To be honest I would advise your sister to go to the Citizens Advice Bureau who will be able to help her without charging a fee (which a solicitor will)
I do hope this helps and that your sister gets everything sorted out very soon.

dunstonh

The company will pay the money to her but will only send a cheque to the executors of of late husband, barclays have closed his account and will not let her open an executor account, she banks with Yorkshire Bank herself What should she do?

Get the executor of the estate to write a letter to the firm to state that the estate has been settled and accounts closed and that the money should be paid directly to the beneficiary.

She has her life insurance from Legal and General and the questions they are asking are disgusting, firstly they asked for his flight tickets, name and addresses of the people who travelled with him including small children and a copy of his autopsy report. They have now asked for the name and addresses of 2 people who have attended his funeral. She has explained she was never given the autopsty report just a death certificate stating he died from a heart attack but they are stating they need the autopsy report. He died in Spain and his death certificate is in Spanish.

This would indicate that they believe there is a potential fraud issue here (doesnt mean that there is but something has set alarm bells ringing). Is there any reason you know why they would consider it as such? She could get her IFA (if she used one) to help with the claim. The IFA can then provide advice and possibly find out more.

bouncydog1

Your sister may do better to contact a solicitor specialising in family law and see if they offer a free half hour consultation. As your brother in law died without making a will and has other dependants including your sister in law, it is very important that the distribution of assets is dealt with to the letter of the law.

I would also suggest that she speaks to the HR manager at his place of employment to see if there are any other benefits payable - did he have a pension scheme for instance or death in service cover?

Finally she should also speak to the local benefits office to see what might be available to her or perhaps you could do this on her behalf.

With regards to the insurance co investigations, over the years there have been many attempted frauds on life policies and if a person has recently taken out a policy and suddenly dies, particularly if they are quite young, insurers will make investigations. It is unfortunate that the dishonest actions of a few people mean insurers have to investigate honest claims which invariably adds to the distress of the recently bereaved.

I do hope that you manage to get things sorted.

ollyevie0305

Thank you all for your help she is going to phone citizen advice this morning. The life insurance was a fairly new policy as she was advised to change it by her insurance broker but i will pass all your suggests onto her:p

firesidemaid

ollyevie0305 wrote: »

Thank you all for your help she is going to phone citizen advice this morning. The life insurance was a fairly new policy as she was advised to change it by her insurance broker but i will pass all your suggests onto her:p

that's probably why they'll be looking into it and asking further questions then - it may even be their automatic policy to investigate policies less than a year old etc.

ditto what another poster has said about checking her benefit entitlements and work-related policies.

my condolences to you, your sister and your family x

dunstonh

The life insurance was a fairly new policy as she was advised to change it by her insurance broker but i will pass all your suggests onto her

That explains it. Especially if the answers to the insurance questions indicated clean health and no issues. Also,t he death abroad won't have helped.

They are almost certainly looking at it to see if there was an undeclared pre-existing condition and it's probable that want to verify he is actually dead and not putting in a fake claim. (new policy, dies shortly afterwards in a foreign country).

billcage

Hi! My friend is working in a certain company and she told me about this life insurance. Their company purchases life insurance on employees, sometimes called dead peasant’s insurance. Is this illegal? What if employees grant permission for the company to insure them and collect funds if they die?

Annisele

Billcage - you'll do better to start your own thread. It gets very confusing having two different questions in one thread, and it isn't really fair to the OP (original poster). Also, google "key man insurance" and see if that answers your question.