Has my late father-in-law been mis-sold life assurance?

Veryconfused.com

My late father-in-law has been paying into a Life Assurance policy since November 1998 - £34.26 twice yearly (£1,300 plus paid in) - as he told us, this was to cover funeral expenses on his death. My husband (his executor) has contacted the company to advise of his death in order to claim the amount now due. He has received notification from the company to confirm a sum payable of £900.00!
(His mother, having had a similar policy in place on her death, did receive a payout in excess of £3,000 so in fact, did do as they had both expected it to ie cover the bulk of the cost of her funeral. We therefore expected something similar)
Whilst we do appreciate investments/insurances etc can fluctuate, this product was sold to him on the basis that his funeral costs should be covered.
We have found his original policy documents which the description of the benefits is as follows:-
1. Whole Life Assurance - sum assured £291 with profits, payable on the death of the Life Assured.
2. Decreasing Term Assurance - sum assured £709 without profits, reducing as shown in the Table of Sums Assured and payable on the death of the Life Assured, only if this occurs before the 1st November 2023.
Firstly, do we have a basis to claim that this was mis-sold? This policy has not done what it was intended for ie pay out enough to cover or even nearly cover funeral costs of the deceased.
Secondly, when calling to query the amount payable, my husband was asked for his fathers date of birth - the company advised him they had a different date of birth when he gave this information, and became very cagey when he questioned this and said they couldn't tell him what they had due to dpa. On checking the policy documents, they do have him listed as one year younger ie 69 at the time the policy was taken out, when he was in fact 70 when it was taken out.
We do feel angry for my late father-in-law, as for the past 20 years he has been assuring us that we will not have to worry about having to cover the costs for his funeral and he has been paying this money in which was never going to pay out anywhere near the cost of a funeral. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

p00hsticks

It sounds as if he meant to get (or thought he had got) a funeral plan which would automatically cover the costs of a basic funeral. Life Assurance is a different product so I'm afraid that unless you can show that he requested a funeral plan or was promised that the amount would be sufficient to cover his funeral then I don't think you have a case for mis-selling.

jonesMUFCforever

What was the cost of a basic funeral 20 years ago?
IMO there is no missale but a missbought.

You may well be angry but it will go TOWARDS payment of the funeral so it will partly do as it was intended.

csgohan4

Would the policy not be valid since he gave the wrong DOB?


The policy was taken out 20 years ago when I assume Had his capacity and could make decisions himself. That does not always make it mis sold