Searching For Lost Assets: Life Insurance and Annuities | MN Probate Law

When a family member dies without an estate plan in place, the family may be left scrambling to determine what assets the family member even owned during their life.

With no estate plan, the family may not even know if they had any life insurance policies. If you find yourself searching for any life insurance policies, the Minnesota Commerce Department offers a free online service that Minnesota residents can use to assist them in locating a lost life insurance policy or annuity contract belonging to a deceased family member.

Minnesota Life Insurance Locator

The Life Insurance Policy Locator was created by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in 2016 to assist people in locating benefits. The service allows individuals who believe they may be beneficiaries, executors or legal representatives of a deceased person to perform a confidential search for life insurance policies and annuities.

What will you need:

A certified death certificate for the deceased is the best resource to complete the request. This may be attained through the funeral home that conducted the burial or cremation of the deceased individual or by contacting the vital statistics office in the deceased’s county.

You may also review the deceased individuals’ bank statements and check safety deposit boxes for personal information, which may contain information about a life insurance policy and enable you to directly contact the insurance company without utilizing the Life Insurance Policy Locator.

So how do we get it:

To begin your search, you can follow this link: https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome. You will need to provide as much information as possible to guarantee the most accurate results. Only one request is required for your family member. The search will encompass all participating life insurance and annuity companies, and it doesn’t matter where the family member may have lived before, or when they purchased the policy. The only note to remember is that not all life insurance companies participate in this process.

What happens if they find something:

The NAIC will send an e-mail to the person who submitted the inquiry, including the request details and will also notify participating life insurance and annuity companies of the request, asking the companies to determine whether they have an individual life insurance policy or annuity contract in the name of the deceased family member.

The insurance company will directly contact the beneficiaries or their authorized representatives when a match is discovered. A response will only be given if relevant information is discovered and could take up to 90 business days. You will not receive a response relevant information is not discovered. If you still have questions you can contact the Minnesota Department of Commerce or call our office.

Minnesota Probate Lawyers

An experienced Minnesota life insurance lawyer can help walk you through the probate process, answering questions along the way. For more information on estate planning in Minnesota, along with a variety of other topics, contact Joseph M. Flanders of Flanders Law Firm at (612) 424-0398.