Life Insurance won't pay out

GorgeousG

Hi
Can someone advise? My dad had been paying life insurance all his life when after a long illness he died 2 years ago. Since then my mum informed the company of his death and was expecting a payout when the insurance company refused because my dad had not put who was the beneficiary so no one has received it.
Surely this is wrong, my dad would be fuming if he knew that he had been paying all that money for the insurance company to keep it. Something is not right.
Can anyone advise.

Thanks

lisyloo

Are you sure they have refused?
Or has you mum (possibly in her grief) not understood that they need certain proof of who to pay out to such as a will or grant of probate.

Was there a will?
Who were the beneficiaries?
Who was the executor?

Weighty1

As above, unless the policy was written in trust it would normally be dealt with via the process of probate and or intestacy depending on if there was a will or not. It's more likely that they need to deal with the executor of the will.

SonOf

Since then my mum informed the company of his death and was expecting a payout when the insurance company refused because my dad had not put who was the beneficiary so no one has received it.

You do not name a beneficiary with life assurance unless you put it into trust.

If he was the policy owner (and not joint) and he was the life assured, then the life assurance is paid to the estate and the claim would be handled by the executor of the estate.

We need more info and the questions in the above posts will help us to identify the issues. Plus, you telling us why they have refused would help. They would give a reason.

lisyloo

jhonpaul wrote: »

If the insurance company wants to pay the benefits to your father's estate. Is It is not the responsibility for the insurance company to make sure that mainly beneficiaries are designated for the policies they sell but as of you life insurance benefits are paid when the insured has died, and the beneficiaries file a death claim with the insurance company, submitting a certified copy of the death certificate and by using you can claim Mainly you have to know that who are the beneficiaries...

It’s more than just submitting a death certificate.

In our case we had to supply.

Death certificate
Will
Signature of executor (or LPA or COP)
Some ID of executor (or LPA or COP)

In some cases they may require grant of probate.

The insurer wrote to us with a list of what was required.
The insurer does have a duty to make sure payment is made to the correct person.

I would call them up and ask them exactly what is required to be supplied to get payment.
I would also ask in each case whether they require an original or whether a copy is ok (it varies).
Then I would send it off recorded delivery.
They are usually very prompt in both returning documents and making payments.