How to find out if a person has life insurance

People buy life insurance to protect against financial loss when they die. But what happens if they don’t let anyone know about their policy? Their family could miss out on much-needed money to cover the loss of income, pay off debt and handle other responsibilities. Here’s how to find out if someone has life insurance.

A financial advisor can help you create an estate plan for your family’s needs and goals. 

Unfortunately, too many life insurance policies go unclaimed because surviving beneficiaries don’t know about those policies. You can find lost or unclaimed life insurance by checking your state’s unclaimed property office or the state insurance commissioner. Here are 11 common ways to find out if someone has life insurance:

Unclaimed property records. Several websites offer unclaimed property search capabilities. These sites discover unclaimed assets for both alive and deceased investors. Example sites include Unclaimed.org and MissingMoney.com.

Insurance commissioners. Each state manages and monitors life insurance companies that operate within their state. Contact the insurance commission for every state that they lived in to search for unclaimed policies. Additionally, use the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website to search for policies from participating companies.

Talk to family and friends. Investors may share their estate planning strategies and accounts with different family members and friends. Often, each person may only have a fraction of the overall plan. Because of this, it pays to reach out to every person that you can think of who might have knowledge of an existing life insurance policy.

Search personal belongings. While some investors have great organizational skills, others do not. Carefully go through their personal belongings to locate unopened mail, paid bills, bank statements, notes and other proof of financial assets. The proof of these unclaimed policies may be hidden in drawers, piled on a dresser, locked within a safe, boxed in the attic or other unexpected places. You should also inquire with local banks to verify if the deceased had a safe deposit box.

Check unopened mail. When someone is in the hospital or suffering from medical issues, it is common for bills and other mail to pile up unopened. Don’t throw them away. Open each item carefully to discover potential bank accounts, investments or life insurance policies that have been missed.

Look through paid bills. Some investors keep copies of all paid bills. These paid statements may be hard copies or in digital format. If you can locate insurance policy records, you may find proof that an unclaimed policy exists.

Review bank statements and cleared checks. If the deceased person paid their life insurance premiums, you may find proof by looking at their bank statements and cleared checks. Many payments today are made electronically, either by automatic withdrawal or by initiating an online bill pay. Cleared checks are proof of payments made to different people and organizations. Searching through those records may uncover a policy that you didn’t know existed.

Search through computer and other digital storage. Some investors scan their valuable documents and store them on their computers, external drives or cloud storage. These may include copies of the life insurance policy, premium payments or annual statements. In some cases, you may need to provide a death certificate in order to gain access to cloud storage files. Personal finance programs like Mint may also include life insurance policy information.

Contact employers and member organizations. Many employers and member organizations offer life insurance to employees and members. In some cases, those policies remain in force long after the person leaves the company or stops being a member. They should have records of any life insurance benefits that you may be due.

Talk with financial advisors and lawyers. Reach out to the deceased’s financial advisors and lawyers to inquire about life insurance. The financial advisor may have sold them a policy or reviewed an existing policy. And the lawyer may know about the policy from estate planning discussions.

Hire a private search firm. If all else fails, paying a private search firm to locate your unclaimed life insurance proceeds could make sense. These companies may be expensive, so only take this route if you can afford their fees and are sure that a policy exists.

Bottom Line

Now that you know how to find out if someone has life insurance, take these steps for your deceased relatives to find out if you or someone else is owed money. Investors have made premium payments for years with their money. It would be a shame if their beneficiaries never receive money that they are due. If you need help, talk with a financial advisor who may be able to assist in locating unclaimed death benefits.

Tips for Life Insurance

• Buying the right amount of insurance is important for estate planning and your budget. Buy too little and your financial needs go unmet. Buy too much and it could interfere with meeting your other goals. Our insurance calculator estimates what you need based on the goals you have.
• Working with a financial advisor helps investors allocate their money towards meeting each of their goals. An advisor discusses your budget and creates a plan to cover your insurance needs without sacrificing retirement, college and other needs. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Photo credit:©iStock.com/FatCamera, ©iStock.com/Luke Chan

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See Your 3 Financial Advisor Matches

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been pre-screened and vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

When a loved one passes away, locating a life insurance policy can be a challenging but necessary task. There are some steps you can take to get the information you need.  Here are a few tips to guide your search.

Search the deceased's documents and correspondence.

In many cases, evidence of policy and any relevant information

• Search through paper and digital files, bank safe deposit boxes, and other storage spaces for insurance-related documents.
• Check bank statements for checks or automatic drafts to life insurance companies.
• Check the deceased’s mail and email for premium or dividend notices. If policy payments are up-to-date, there will be no notice of premium payments due; however, the company may still send an annual notice regarding the status of the policy or statement of a dividend.
• Review the deceased’s tax returns for the past two years for a record of interest income or expenses paid to life insurance companies. Life insurance companies pay interest on accumulations on permanent policies and chart interest on policy loans.
• Check the application for each life insurance policy you find. This document, typically attached to the policy, will have a list of any other life insurance policies owned at the time of the application.
• Talk to the deceased’s banker, financial adviser, and attorney.

If this search turns up empty, there are still actions you can take.

Submit a request to the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator Service.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Life Insurance Policy Locator Service, a free online tool, can assist you in locating life insurance policies. Once a request is received, the NAIC will ask participating companies to search their records to determine whether they have a life insurance policy in the name of the deceased you entered. If they do, the participating company will respond to you if you are the designated beneficiary or are authorized to receive the information. 

Click here to use the service. You will need information from the death certificate, including social security number, legal first and last name, date of birth, and date of death. This video provides instructions on how to use the service.

Contact the state’s Unclaimed Property Office.

When a life insurance company is aware that an insured client has died but cannot find the beneficiary, the company must turn the death benefit over to the state where the policy was purchased as “unclaimed property.” 

If you know (or can guess) the state where the policy was bought, you can search the state’s unclaimed property database. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators has a search tool that will take you to your state’s unclaimed property database. 

Be aware of special challenges. 

There may be circumstances that complicate the search for a loved one’s life insurance policy:

• The insurance company changed its name or sold the policy to another company: The NAIC provides tips on finding insurance companies that have changed their names, merged with other insurance companies, or sold blocks of policies to other insurance companies.
• The company went bankrupt: Contact the state life and health guaranty association. The National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations has a search tool to find your state guaranty association. Guaranty associations provide a safety net for their state’s policyholders, ensuring continued coverage up to the limits outlined in state law.
• The policy may have been purchased in Canada: Reach out to the Canadian Ombudservice for Life and Health Insurance for information.

Keep in mind fee-based services are available if needed.

Sometimes, even despite all the best efforts, finding an insurance policy when a loved one has passed away can seem overwhelming. In these cases, it is helpful to know that MIB, an insurance membership corporation, offers services for a fee. This service may be able to find evidence of life insurance applications but does not indicate whether a life insurance policy was purchased. Additionally, several private companies can assist you with the search for a lost life insurance policy for a fee.