how do i find out if my ex had life insurance

by tootiemedeirosjenkins » Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:15 am

he passed away last week and we just dont know

Total Comments: 10

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 01:43 am Post Subject: insurance

Do you happen to know if he kept important documents somewhere? Maybe a family member knows....you may want to go THAT 'route'. I think there is an actually website you can go to, to find out if someone had Life Insurance. However...I'm not sure what that website is called. When one of the Experts comment on this thread, I'm sure they can tell you. Just hang in there..someone will be around soon.

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 02:52 am Post Subject:

I think there is an actually website you can go to, to find out if someone had Life Insurance. However...I'm not sure what that website is called



This is correct it's the MIB web site. The MIB is the medical information bureau. It's the respository for medical information for the insurance industry. It's where underwriting decisions also get stored for other insurance companies to look up. However, it's not there forever, so depending on how the policy is, you may or may not find something. Additionally, finding something doesn't guarantee that the policy will still be in force, you'll need to go to the insurance company for that. The insurance company will talk to the beneficiary. They might confirm that a policy exists to someone who is not the beneficiary.

Also note, there is a charge to use the MIB lookup.

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 03:08 pm Post Subject:

Also note, there is a charge to use the MIB lookup



There is a $75 fee for their Policy Locator service, and they claim a 30% success rate.

http://www.mibsolutions.com/lost-life-insurance/

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 09:42 pm Post Subject: insurance

(Putting in my '2 cents') That's alot of money for that LITTLE of a % found. Gosh!!

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 01:10 am Post Subject:

Would you spend $75 to collect $1000, $10,000, $50,000, $100,000, or more? It's a small price to pay. That they don't have more success is not the issue. It is about the only resource one has available in such a circumstance.

How much time, effort, and money would one spend contacting 1300 different life insurance companies in the US only to discover that none ever issued a policy?

It's a matter of can't see the forest for the trees if a person is unwilling to spend the $75 in view of a 30% success rate.

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 02:56 am Post Subject:

Precisely, the alternative is not having the service. If 75 bucks it what it cost to find out, looks like you'll have to eat out one less time this month in order to discover if there is a life insurance policy out there.

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 05:02 pm Post Subject:

Nice to know about MIB, it would definitely come in handy during situations like this. if some body passes away suddenly and dependents have no idea about the investments or at least insurance policies that person purchased. these dependents would benefit from this kind of service.

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 03:03 am Post Subject:

If you have access to his bank and credit card statements, you may be able to make your job easier.

Few policies are paid less frequently than annually. If you go over his statements for 13 the last months, you might find something that will tell you which direction to look in.

You may also contact his auto insurance agent. He may have purchased a policy through the same person he got his car insurance from.

I don't know this for sure, but it would seem logical that if you are the beneficiary, the agent would be allowed to tell you if a policy exists. Telling you that a policy exists might be legally or ethically prohibited if you are not the bene.

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 09:45 am Post Subject:

Some times policy-related information are available with relatives or ex-colleagues. We may also go through the phone book of the deceased and check if we come across any agent information.

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