lost endowment policy

frogdandy104

In the 1980's my ex husband and I were sold a with profits endowment policy as a condition of obtaining a mortgage. we divorced in 1999. There was a clause in the divorce about keeping the policy in joint life for investment purposes and dividing 'the with profits' proceeds on maturity.


My ex husband kept the flat we owned and moved several times and re mortgaged with a new partner. I got a cash settlement . I also moved several times and took back my maiden name. I did not keep in touch with my ex husband and did not think about the maturity of the policy.


This year my ex husband contacted me by email and stated that when the policy matured in 2012 he asked the endowment company to send the proceeds to the building society in order to pay his mortgage. My ex husband explained that the policy on maturity was in shortfall and that the life assurance company could not trace me . He stated that they paid him his share of it and kept the remainder .

I have tried to trace the policy through the unclaimed assets register and failed to find anything. I do not know the name of the company nor the policy number and my ex husband says he's thrown away the paperwork and does not remember the details. I suspect that I might have a claim to the other half of the policy and that he will not want me to claim it. I do not want to argue with him over this after so many years. Would anyone know whether I am entitled to any of this policy and how I can find the provider? After phoning several companies with no success I am thinking of asking a solicitor to trace it but i'm not sure if it's worth it. thank you

dunstonh

I have tried to trace the policy through the unclaimed assets register and failed to find anything.

If it paid out to the ex then ask him the details.

I do not know the name of the company nor the policy number and my ex husband says he's thrown away the paperwork and does not remember the details.

To be honest, that sounds a bit too convenient.

Would anyone know whether I am entitled to any of this policy and how I can find the provider?

Depends on the terms of your divorce settlement. Normally a clean break would be put in place leaving the person with the endowment being the sole assigned beneficiary. However, if you did different then it will depend on that agreement.

The solicitor that handled your divorce would likely have noted the endowment details as it was a declarable asset.

frogdandy104

So if I contact the solicitor who handled my divorce they would have kept a policy detail that long?
I don't recall that my ex husband was assigned the policy and it was kept on a joint life basis. When he contacted me this year He did ask if I would sign over the other half to him he would pay me a fee. But when I then asked him for the policy details, he then changed his tune and said he mislaid the paper work in various moves or threw them away in frustration at losing so much money. so yes . Like you, I find it also a bit convenient. But I reckon he would rather the endowment company kept the £ 6500 then me getting it.

dunstonh

So if I contact the solicitor who handled my divorce they would have kept a policy detail that long?

Depends on the quality of the solicitor. I once did some work in a solicitors office and they kept everything and saw documents from almost a hundred years earlier.

But I reckon he would rather the endowment company kept the £ 6500 then me getting it.

its also possible they paid out everything in the end to him and he is hoping to keep the money for himself.

PasturesNew

Only 2012, even if he's thrown out all the paperwork .... he should still be able to find his bank statements from 2012 and before ... and would be able to see what wording was on the monthly SO.

I can accept that he threw it all out - paperwork can be overwhelming and it's good to close a chapter and throw everything out.... but we all like to keep quite a few years' bank statements and, as a monthly payment, all he needs to find is ONE bank statement from any month/any year up to 2012.

magpiecottage

frogdandy104 wrote: »

I don't recall that my ex husband was assigned the policy and it was kept on a joint life basis.

This would be normal. The policy continues to cover both lives but the ownership of any proceeds would go to one or other - who would become solely responsible for paying ongoing premiums.

On the other hand, they would get the benefits if the ex dies.

RADDERS

On maturity of the policy if it was assigned to a Building Society to cover a mortgage, the insurance company could have paid the full amount of the policy to the assigned Society. This could have been done without any signatures from the policy holders, just from the assignee who would claim the proceeds.
Hope that helps

frogdandy104

the bit I find difficult to grasp is how 15 years later he could ask the insurance company to send proceeds from a policy that belonged to both of us to partly pay off a 2nd and then 3rd mortgage with a new partner on a new property.
If he lied about only being paid half of the policy and cashed it whole without my signature then this could be fraud.
Even if he threw the paperwork away as he claims, then I am fairly sure he would remember who sent him the pay out cheque.
I understand that he carried on paying the small premiums from 1999 till 2012,and as such he would feel entitled to the whole proceeds.
But there is something odd about the facts as he's given them to me .
If I was to argue as to why I would want some of this policy ( if I am entitled to it) I would say that when we were married I worked for a well known life insurance company and one of the benefits was a 2% subsidised mortgage. we switched our mortgage into it and I paid it through salary sacrifice when we separated and right up till our divorce being finalised. this was a huge financial benefit for him back then because interest rates fluctuated so much and the subsidised mortgage payment was only 50£ a month. On the other hand when I moved out I paid a £400 a month rent. So we were not exactly on equal footing for starters. we kept the policy going because it was with profits and we thought there could be a return a bonus at the end. I understand we should have signed paperwork to have it assigned to him if he wanted to used it as insurance as he remortgaged to keep the flat we jointly owned. But how this could still be the case 3 mortgages later ?

frogdandy104

My suspicions have also been raised as he emailed me in july asking I was getting on with my search for the policy and that he was thinking of putting in a claim for PPI as he lost a lot of money on this policy. Now can somebody explain how can one put in a claim for compensation on a policy where one has no recollection of where the paperwork has gone and who it was taken out with? a crystal ball is no doubt going to be useful.