TDI Launches Life Policy Locator to Help Consumers

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 23 -- The Texas Department of Insurance issued the following news release:

The Texas Department of Insurance recently started a new service for people trying to find a lost life insurance policy or annuity contract.

TDI's Life Policy Locator Service can help people named as beneficiaries get benefits that might be owed to them from a life insurance policy or annuity contract bought in Texas. This could be the case, for instance, if a relative dies and the beneficiary doesn't know the name of the insurance company that issued the policy or contract.

To locate a lost life insurance policy or annuity contract, the beneficiary - or executor or legal representatives of the deceased person -- fills out a search request form. The form is available at: http://www.tdi.texas.gov/life/life.html.

TDI will forward completed search request forms to participating Texas-licensed life insurance companies no later than 30 days after the request is submitted. Insurance companies will then search their records and then contact the requester if they have a policy in the deceased person's name. Currently, 28 Texas insurance companies are voluntarily participating in the Life Policy Locator Service. An insurance company will contact a requester only if it has a policy in the deceased person's name and the requester is legally entitled to get the information.

The following tips can help you search for a lost life insurance policy or annuity contract:

* Examine the deceased's bank statements and check registers for payments to life insurance companies. Life insurers commonly require payment of premiums by bank drafts. These payments appear on monthly bank statements. * Look for insurance agents in the deceased's address book or personal phone directory. The agent who sold the person car, home or health insurance also may have sold him or her life insurance. * Call the employee benefits offices at the deceased's former employers. Sometimes people buy group life insurance at work. * Review the deceased's income tax records to see if he or she reported interest income on a cash value life insurance policy.

If a life insurance company knows that an insured has died but it can't find the policy's beneficiaries within three years, it must send the death benefit to the state Comptroller's unclaimed property fund. The rightful owners of the life insurance proceeds can reclaim them from the Comptroller. For more information, go to the Comptroller's unclaimed property website, www.cpa.state.tx.us/up/.

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