My husband taught in Missouri & had insurance thru them

by mswatson27 » Wed Aug 12, 2009 04:22 am

He taught K-12 music in a small school in southwest Missouri. He committed suicide very unexpectedly on Thanksgiving night, 2002. The funeral home director and I both called the Superintendent of his school. We were both told that my husband had a $10,000 life insurance policy and they would get the papers sent over to the funeral home.

Anyway, in a blur, I made funeral arrangements for the man I loved based on a $10000 budget. It was a beautiful service and cost right at $8600.

3 MONTHS LATER, the school district and the funeral home called to tell me that he did not have a life policy. He had an Accidental Death and Dismemberment policy, and obviously, suicide wasn't covered!!!! 3 MONTHS to let me know that I couldn't afford an $8600 funeral!

I really wanted to blame someone, but couldn't pinpoint just the right person. Was it the superintendent who said it was a life policy and sent the papers to the funeral home? Was it the funderal director who filled out the paperwork and submitted it for payment? Or was it the Missouri Public School System who misled my husband (and the superintendent) on the coverage they were offering?

And after all that, the funeral home charged me almost $1000 in interest for the 3 months we waited on the insurance to pay. I took it all to an attorney who said that if we could show that my husband was mentally ill, it might make a difference. I don't know if it would have, and he dropped me shortly thereafter because he had too high of a case load. :roll:

If you want a word of advice, really pay attention to what kind of policy you have. I mean, he could have died of a heartattack at school, and I would have been in the same mess.

Total Comments: 6

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 04:47 am Post Subject:

and that is why AD&D policies are worthless....sorry to hear that.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 05:01 am Post Subject:

Thanks. Yeah, we sure learned the hard way. I was just so upset that no one from the superintendent all the way through the funeral home couldn't tell that it wasn't a life policy. Could have saved me some hard feelings and $1000 in interest.

Live and learn!

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:38 am Post Subject:

Another good point that your thread makes is....share information with your spouse, kids, grandkids, brother, sister who ever...about your policys...had you and your husband discussed this (when he was well)...this could've been avoided..


p.s. So sorry to hear of this loss, having been through this twice (mother in law and brother) I KNOW the pain of suicide..

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 04:35 pm Post Subject:

This is just another reason why it's important to own your own life insurance even if some is provided through work. It's very possible that the deceased was never aware that what he had was not life insurance. HR people are not insurance agents and may have referred to the AD&D policy as life insurance.
There is no substitute for working with an insurance agent and/or financial planner when it comes to protection our loved ones from financial harm.

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 01:25 am Post Subject:

You're right fishman. He even brought paperwork home when he signed his teaching contract that listed his benefits. And even though we saw it, the school superintendent saw it, and even the funeral home saw it, none of us realized that it wasn't true life insurance. It was a very hard lesson learned. I made a point before I moved away from that district to make sure the other teachers that I knew, knew that it wasn't life insurance.

Thank you for your responses.

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:44 am Post Subject:

I made a point before I moved away from that district to make sure the other teachers that I knew, knew that it wasn't life insurance.

Good for you, that was something that you most certainly didn't have to do, but most likely saved a lot of heart ache for his former co-workers familys, I hope they appreciated your effort. Good luck to you.

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