Life insurance question in Alabama

[nocollege]

My brother died last year in a car wreck and didn`t have a will. We took are of all the things that you do after a death ,except one thing we didn`t check all the banks for accounts. He had an account with a few hundred dollars initially in it. He used that account to have some life insurance preminums automatically deducted every quarter or so. We found out about it when the insurance was being cancelled because of non-payment. So we called the company and asked if they still had a record of it and they did. So we asked for payment of it. My sister was the beneficiary of the ten thousand dollars policy with accident paying double the face amount. The problem is he died within the contestable period. He did 20 months after taking out the policy. Since no one notified them of death they continued to take the premiums out of his account. They stopped when the well ran dry. My question and my sister`s question is when a person dies during contestable period ,but insurance preminums are still being paid will we get a refund on preminums? Does the fact that it has been over a year now complicate anything? The lady at the insurance company is asking for his medical records and etc and wants us to provide all the health questions answers. I only know he was in good health and he didn`t have any health problems as far as I know. She was very rude to us and sad we weren`t cooperating with them. She said since it was in the contestable period we probably were out of luck. She had another person at company offer to give us 6500 out of the kindness of her heart. Should we settle this or should we hold out? The lady sure was nice that called us from that company the second one I mean. The first one had angry tone . Is this something attorneys can help with?

 

[FlaRiptide]

Hopefully someone with insurance experience will answer you. Though, I personally don't understand why the contestable period would even come into play if your brother died due to an accident and NOT illness.

Don't think for a moment that they are offering the $6,500 out of the "kindness of their heart"! If they legally were not responsible for payment, they would offer you NOTHING. They are simply trying to get you to accept less than what you are due.

Get a copy of the policy, read and understand it thoroughly. Inform the insurance agency that should they not comply with the terms of the policy, they shall be hearing from your attorney.

 

[army judge]

You could do battle and maybe obtain, $10,000; you'll never get more.
Or, you could "settle" and get $6,500, without doing anything but signing your name.

If you did battle, who knows how long before you'd get a decision?
If you simply sign your name, you'd get $6,500 in a few days.

We're only talking about a $3,500 delta here, aren't we?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[nocollege]

Yes I could do battle and get the 10000 dollars but this had another part to it saying they would pay double if death from accident. For some reason they only want to pay 6500 . The lady started asking me lots of health questions about him ,did he smoke was he overweight high blood pressure etc. I said that I didn`t know all his details and she got angry with me. I feel she is going to just try to stall for some reason. I`m not sure if the 6500 is from the accdent part or the regular part. They may deny the regular part because they may find some health problem.

 

[army judge]

Yes I could do battle and get the 10000 dollars but this had another part to it saying they would pay double if death from accident. For some reason they only want to pay 6500 . The lady started asking me lots of health questions about him ,did he smoke was he overweight high blood pressure etc. I said that I didn`t know all his details and she got angry with me. I feel she is going to just try to stall for some reason. I`m not sure if the 6500 is from the accdent part or the regular part. They may deny the regular part because they may find some health problem.

First of all, I was remiss in not sending you my condolences on your brother's passing.
Please accept my deepest regrets as your family recovers from this terrible event.

DO NOT ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS BELOW.
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE TYPES OF QUESTIONS THE INSURANCE COMPANY COULD ASK, AS THIS ISSUE GOES FORWARD.

1. To the BEST of your knowledge or recollection, did your brother have any health issues?
2. Was your brother a drug addict?
3. Was your brother an alcoholic?
4. DID YOUR BROTHER HAVE ANY DREADED DISEASES, IE...CANCER, AIDS, HIV, etc...?

It would appear they are feeling you out, to see if they can deny the claim.
Your brother is buried, and they will NEVER know what YOU don't tell them.
No one can PROVE what you did or did not know, except your brother.
Unfortunately, due to his recent demise, he won't be talking!
If your brother suffered from any malady, that he did not reveal, that information is in his grave with him.
If I were you, simply inquire as to what the insurance company requires you to do to collect the proceeds of his life insurance policy.
You could then conclude with this, "Where shall I send a copy of his death certificate? When can I expect settlement of my claim, in the amount of $20,000, as he died in an automobile accident?"

 

[KCGirl]

Responding only as one human being, nothing legal just

It really is detestable when companies try to wrangle out of paying what they agreed to pay when your brother bought the policy. Your brother's wishes were for you to get the proceeds of the policy when he died, now they wish to back peddle on their agreement. I'm sure they presented it as a good plan and I'm sure they emphasized their reliability and performance history/reputation when your brother was considering whether to purchase a plan through them or to consider another company. Now that he is gone they no longer care about his opinion of the company. Instead they care about greed and profits. It was good of your brother to go to the efforts that he did and with you in mind. They need to honor their word and your brother. Though he is no longer among the living, they sold him their "honor" and they need to deliver it.

Losing a family member so suddenly in an accident is difficult, I know. I lost my sister to a car accident when she was 38 years old and it takes a long time to recover and to fully accept their passing. My sympathy and empathy as well for your loss. I hope you find some peace in remembering the good times.

I am reminded of a promise I made to myself after my sister died. We should not wait until tomorrow to share feelings of hope and joy and love with those we care about. I did not get a chance to tell my sister one more time how much she was loved and of course no chance to say goodbye. I will always regret that but take it as a lesson learned.

 

[army judge]

Responding only as one human being, nothing legal just

It really is detestable when companies try to wrangle out of paying what they agreed to pay when your brother bought the policy. Your brother's wishes were for you to get the proceeds of the policy when he died, now they wish to back peddle on their agreement. I'm sure they presented it as a good plan and I'm sure they emphasized their reliability and performance history/reputation when your brother was considering whether to purchase a plan through them or to consider another company. Now that he is gone they no longer care about his opinion of the company. Instead they care about greed and profits. It was good of your brother to go to the efforts that he did and with you in mind. They need to honor their word and your brother. Though he is no longer among the living, they sold him their "honor" and they need to deliver it.

Losing a family member so suddenly in an accident is difficult, I know. I lost my sister to a car accident when she was 38 years old and it takes a long time to recover and to fully accept their passing. My sympathy and empathy as well for your loss. I hope you find some peace in remembering the good times.

I am reminded of a promise I made to myself after my sister died. We should not wait until tomorrow to share feelings of hope and joy and love with those we care about. I did not get a chance to tell my sister one more time how much she was loved and of course no chance to say goodbye. I will always regret that but take it as a lesson learned.

The world is a wretched, crooked, and wicked place. It is replete with all manner of shysters, con-artists, skylarks, tricksters, ne'er do wells, pretenders, murderers, devils, liars, robbers, heart breakers, and deadbeats. And, that's only amongst our relatives. Wait until you step outdoors!!!

 

[KCGirl]

The world is a wretched, crooked, and wicked place. It is replete with all manner of shysters, con-artists, skylarks, tricksters, ne'er do wells, pretenders, murderers, devils, liars, robbers, heart breakers, and deadbeats. And, that's only amongst our relatives. Wait until you step outdoors!!!

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who enjoys some twisted humour at 2:00 a.m. It's also kind of scary to think there are two people like me or in your case two people like you. Has anyone established if we have a Constitutional right to be sick and twisted at 2 in the morning? In my younger days about now I would have been making a half-hearted effort to walk a somewhat convincing straight line from my car to my apartment, well enough to keep tongues from wagging hopefully, a wee bit tipsy, my lungs clogged from cigarette smoke of too many people jammed into too small a place. Of course all that while completely oblivious/in denial that I'd probably have a monster headache when I woke up sometime later in the day. Well, my philosophy was that it's a tough job but someone has to do it and by god I did my part! In my defense, not all of the difficulty walking that straight line was due to Mr. Jack Daniels, it was from being silly enough to wear impossibly high heels on an evening meant for dancing the night away. Even with a modicum of distilled spirits to numb the pain eventually my feet cried enough already! If anyone besides myself had inflicted such torture on me I'd have been fairly ticked off yannow? Youth can be foolish, youth can be fun, the trick is to know the difference.

Whatever, lol.

Sillyness aside, we shouldn't take for granted we get a chance to say tomorrow what we meant/wanted to say today.