Can you find out if a deceased person has life insurance without paperworK?

Question

My aunt, who had alzheimer's just passed away a few weeks ago. Her papers had been shuffled from one family's house to another and much of it is gone. Is there a databank to look up if there is life insurance for her? I am trying to help out my family navigate this area.

Answer 1

No data bank, you should look at her checking account statements for any current policies because most all companies require that policies be drafted from a checking or savings account. Unless she may have had an old paid up policy, but unless someone in the family can remember the insurance company she might have dealt with, there is no way of knowing. Did she have a safe deposit or fire box? Before her illness did she drive or own a home? If so, contact the agent where she had that insurance and ask them to check for any active policies. Good Luck.

Answer 2

No, there's no national database, or state database, either.

It's private information.

The executor of the estate can go to her bank, and get copies of her old checks, to see who she was paying her premiums to.  Or they can talk to her attorney or accountant, or get into her safety deposit box.

And there's MIB, you can pay them $75 IF YOU ARE THE EXECUTOR, and they'll tell you if any applications on her were submitted in the past ten years.

But if you're not the executor of the estate, you can't do anything.  Don't worry about it - 70% of the people in the US that pass away, have no insurance.