How to Search Online for a Loved One’s Life Insurance Policy or Annuity

What is the Life Insurance Policy Locator Service?

If you’re faced with the tragedy of the loss of a loved one, dealing with their life insurance situation is one of the last things you want to deal with while you’re grieving. If you don’t have a life insurance advisor by your side, you may not be certain if your loved one had life insurance. Even if you know that they had life insurance coverage, you may not be aware of who the life insurance carrier is that sponsored the plan.

For a long time, individuals had little avenues to turn to when they didn’t know the details of their spouse or loved one’s policies. Today there is a tool called the Life Insurance Policy Locator Service offered by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that assists you in locating life insurance policies and annuity contracts from a deceased relative or someone with whom you had a close relationship.

The online tool helps you find a loved one’s life insurance policy for free by searching across participating life insurance companies to help you find out if your recently deceased loved one had a life insurance policy or annuity. You may submit a request if you are a beneficiary, executor or legal representative of a deceased person.

As Business Insider reported , this search program is a voluntary service. In other words, insurance companies don’t have to participate. So always make sure to exhaust other avenues of searching for the deceased’s life insurance policy or annuity before using the NAIC feature.

According to the NAIC, you should look into the deceased’s bank statements, safety deposit boxes, and personal files for information that may contain their life policies or annuities so you can contact the insurance company directly to pull their information. If this task is unfruitful, then go on and use the online feature for another way to check.

Make sure to have a certified death certificate on hand, as that will provide crucial information in filling out your request. While not every data field is mandatory to submit your request, remember that the more information you provide, the better your search results will be.

After you submit your request, the NAIC notifies participating companies to search their records for an individual life insurance policy or annuity contract under the deceased’s name. It could take up to 90 days to hear back, depending also on if the insurance company needs further information from you.

Partnering with a Trusted Advisor Prevents Issues Before They Happen

Even with this feature that has been long needed, dealing with life insurance in this manner feels haphazard and overly complex. At AEIS, we work hand-in-hand with our life insurance clients dealing with high-net-worth estates to ensure that they and their loved ones have plans in place to meet their goals and overcome their obstacles.

As part of our process, we assess our clients’ situation with in-depth interviews and historical and financial reviews. We then bring in all stakeholders of policies to make sure that everyone’s goals are being addressed and that everyone understands the plan ahead. At AEIS, you can have comfort in knowing that your loved ones will not have to fend for themselves or go digging for your life policy information.

Call us today for a free consultation at 650-348-6234 x12 or email us at Ron@AEISAdvisors.com.

Disclaimer: Any compliance-related information in this blog is intended to be informational and does not constitute legal advice regarding any specific situation. Should you require further compliance assistance or legal advice, please consult a licensed attorney.

By Wyatt Bland, August 2020