Can you find out if someone has life insurance?

Unfortunately, there are approximately £50bn of unclaimed assets in the UK, at least £2bn of which are life insurance policies[1].

Too often life insurance policies go unclaimed either because policyholders forget about them or don't share their existence with loved ones.

As a result, when the policyholder dies their dependants are left questioning whether or not they had life insurance in place.

Perhaps a parent or ex-spouse who you have lost contact with held a life insurance policy you were unaware of?

The good news is that YES it's possible to identify whether or not your loved one had a life insurance policy.

And the process is easier than you may think. In it's simplest form you may just need to do some old fashioned detective work...

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How to find lost life insurance policies for free

You may have wondered how do you find the life insurance policy of a deceased person?

Well, there are a number of simple, and free, ways to identify whether or not your loved one had life insurance cover.

  1. Check bank statements to identify any regular payments to an insurer. In some instances, premiums will be paid annually, so it's important to check the previous 12 months'
  2. Contact the policyholder’s previous employer to determine whether they had any life protection or group life insurance (or death in service) provided through their role
  3. Take a look at where other important documents and insurance certificates were kept. People often store these together and you may come across important life insurance documentation

How do you find unclaimed life insurance policies?

If all free methods of finding lost life insurance have failed, it doesn’t mean that one doesn’t exist.

For a fee of £25, it's possible to search the Unclaimed Assets Register for any unclaimed policies in the deceased’s name. Alternatively, you can call them on 0333 000 0182.

You'll be required to provide their personal details and proof that you're in line for receiving the payout.

It's worth noting that details of any whole of life policies are not put onto the register until the 100th birthday of a policyholder.

As a result, it may be beneficial to conduct a second search at a later date.

Term-based life insurance policies should show immediately.

How to find out if someone has a life insurance policy on you?

The good news is, it's extremely unlikely someone will be able to take out a life insurance policy on you without you knowing.

Arranging life insurance on behalf of another person not only requires their consent but usually requires medical information which will need to come directly from the policyholder.

In a rare occasion, someone does manage to take out life insurance on your behalf, it will be considered life insurance fraud.

As a result, if a claim is made upon your death, a pay out will be denied.

Mutuals and Friendly Societies

Mutuals and friendly societies were a form of protection predating what we now know as life insurance.

They're a form of savings product which offered low premiums.

Therefore, older relatives may have had this form of protection in place.

If this is believed to be the case, you can find all the required details on Association of Financial Mutuals.

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What happens to unclaimed life insurance money?

The good news is, there's no time limit to make a claim on life insurance.

This means that even if your loved one passed many years ago; a successful claim can still be made.

The amount you'll receive remains fixed, meaning you'll receive the full payout amount.

The one exception to this is when a whole of life policy is concerned.

If the policyholder passed away before their 100th birthday and the insurer isn’t informed, they will deduct any unpaid premiums from the sum assured until this point.

As a result, the payout received will be minus the value of those premiums.

Do life insurance companies contact beneficiaries?

In recent years the life insurance industry has been criticised for not making enough effort to ensure beneficiaries are informed a policy is in place.

As a result, some life insurance providers now have departments dedicated to exactly that.

They search the death register regularly to identify any policyholders who have passed and notify the beneficiaries of the policies presence.

After you have established the insurer

When you find out the insurer with which a decedent had a policy, contact them directly, citing the policy number.

A full list of Association of British Insurers (ABI) members, complete with their contact details, can be found at www.abi.org.uk

Let Reassured help you

As the UK’s largest life insurance broker * we've helped over 1,000,000 people arrange life insurance protection.

As a result, it may have been our services which helped arrange your loved one’s life cover.

Feel free to give us a call and we'll do our best to help you.

Our friendly customer service team can be reached between 09:00 - 17:30 on 0808 168 2025, or via email customer.services@reassured.co.uk.

If you have a life insurance policy

If you have life insurance, make sure your beneficiaries or your solicitor are aware of the policy details.

This will ensure the cash pay out reaches your loved ones as and when intended, whatever the future may hold.

If you don’t have a life insurance policy

Have you considered life insurance to secure the financial future of your family?

Life insurance can provide some peace of mind by helping to cover key outgoings such as:

  • Mortgage or rent
  • Household bills
  • Personal debts such as credit cards and loans
  • Family living expenses
  • Childcare or education costs

Premiums start from just 20p-a-day † through Reassured. Use our award-winning service to compare quotes from some of the biggest UK insurers.

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Sources:

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/e3e91313-fc53-495b-9281-0e80096c0a4b

[2] https://unclaimedassets.co.uk/lost-life-insurance-association-of-british-insurers-abi/

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