Insurance policy

bernie2020

Hi I'm just inquiring about a life insurance policy that my nan started for me and my brother when she was young. She worked at the cis in Manchester and I was told by my grandfather that she started a policy for us both. So in the invent of her death we would receive money. I'm now 50 and never received anything she died when I was about 18 19. So I was wondering recently how I would be able to find out if it was still a policy that would be hanging around that would still belong to me and my brother. Thanks in advance for any help. Paul burnett.

Sandtree

So you think there was a policy 32 years ago with you as the beneficiary? If it was still a policy it would mean someone is still paying it, who do you think would have taken over the payments and continued for another 32 years after the insured life was deceased?

You can certainly make enquiries but its going to be a ball of string to follow and companies maintaining records for that long is going to be fairly remote. Start with CIS and see where the string goes... they don't currently write life insurance but sell another firm's rebadged, people may struggle to remember what the situation was 30-50 years ago when you say the policy was purchased.

dunstonh

Just a little tip for the future...  When you post in a forum, your subject title should be a really short summary of the issue.    Your title currently is "insurance policy" and you posted in the insurance section.   It doesnt attract people who may know about the subject to your post.

Royal London took over CIS's old life and pensions book.   However, that was mainly the active policies.  Data on terminated policies may no longer exist.

It was probably an old industrial branch policy and most of these were taken out by the owner and on maturity paid it back to the owner for them to pass onto their chosen beneficiary as they saw fit (or keep for themselves if they preferred).   

Old_Lifer

I would agree this was probably an industrial policy  (small sum assured, small premium, premiums collected weekly)  as CIS was primarily an Industrial Life Office.

As your nan  worked for the  CIS,   it is  more than likely that she kept all the documentation in good order and this  issue would have been sorted on her death  if the policy was still in force at that time.      Is the person who dealt with her affairs still alive ?    Does your brother know anything about this ?

In many areas,  the cost of a basic funeral  at the start of the 1970's was little more than  £100  so the sum assured  under an industrial policy  may have been  little more than a couple of hundred pounds or so.      In the 1980's  the ever rising cost  of collecting  small premiums weekly  meant that increasingly   Industrial  Life Offices  stopped collecting premiums   and converted policies to free policies  or to paid-up  with a reduced sum assured.

dunstonh

In addition to what old lifer says.....
A lot of these policies were never put in trust. They were owned by the policyholder and proceeds paid to the policyholder.  If the policyholder wanted to pass them on, they could.
if they died, the proceeds would usually end up back in the estate and distributed as per the Will.

Old_Lifer

In the 1970's putting a small industrial policy  into  trust  would probably  not even have been on the radar