Life insurance beneficiary proof - UK or Europe

by FindYourPolicy » Mon May 26, 2008 11:13 pm

I understand that in the United States to confirm to the Life Insurance Company that some one has passed they require a signed and sealed death certificate. The reason is that the Social Security number is on the death certificate and they compare that with the SS# on the policy.
Does anyone know what type of identification is used in the UK or Europe when someone claims to be their life insurance beneficiary? It must be some type of number that is consistent and written on the death certificate to verify that the insured has passed so payment can be made.

Thank you

Total Comments: 9

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 09:03 am Post Subject: overseas proof..

Hi,

If your carrier is based in the US, then I believe your carrier won't alter any of the life insurance beneficiary identity-proof criteria even when you go abroad. My reason being- the proof is not associated with you (though you're the legitimate life insurance beneficiary), rather it is associated with the dead who was in the US, hope I'm right!
regards..Carol

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 09:22 am Post Subject: 3

hey there, I've always seen that there are three essentials towards claiming a life insurance benefit namely- certificate of death, policy proof & some assoc. docs that the insurer may need at processing the claim. It is always advisable to go through the policy papers (especially the sections regarding claims) & you may find the credentials.
keep writing..
Jeorge

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 09:44 am Post Subject: in trust..or not!

See...you may have a policy which may or may not have been written in trust. For a policy which has been written that way, it is easier for the carrier to make payments. But in case it is not then it might need some time to process. It is also important to note that under such circumstances you might need to produce the Grant of Probate. Several weeks may pass before the final pay order may come for you.
Thanx, Sasha Taylor

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 03:16 pm Post Subject:

Thank you all for your information. I do have another question. How does the insurance company confirm that the person they insured has truely passed. In the United States, the Social Security number is on the Death Certificate which the insurance company can cross reference with what is in the policy. What number does the insurance company in the UK have that identifies the person that they insured. If for example, I am the life insurance beneficiary, how do I prove to the Life Insurance company that my brother (Bill Smith the insured) is not one of the other 100 people with the same name.
Thank you Michael

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 04:48 pm Post Subject: hmm

I suppose the death certificate alone does the requirement in India as far as i know. Here they dont ask for SSN unless an US citizen.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 06:38 pm Post Subject:

Hello s2a2n2,
Thank you for your reply. I was just wondering what happens if someone has the same name. How do they identify that the death certificate is for that specific individual. Could it be the birth date?
Thanks Michael

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 06:51 pm Post Subject: Yes

Yes ofcourse! but to be specific it hardly happens to be with same name, similar age, same day death.

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 04:36 pm Post Subject:

Yeah this situation is very rare to happened. But if this will happened, maybe check on the middle name. For sure it will be different.

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 04:54 pm Post Subject:

Thanks Joven222,
The reason I am curious, is we are interested in bringing our service (findyourpolicy.com) to other parts of the world and we did not know how, without a Social Security Number, other Insurance companies identify the deceased. All these answers are most definitely helping our research.
Thank you Michael

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