Talk about sensationalism! The insurer is not balking at payment. They just do not know whom should receive the proceeds and are asking the court to decide. How about reading your article first before you decide on a title for it?
Agreed. Clearly the company is ready to pay and woiuld probably like to close this file. But I’m curious if anyone knows: what is their obligation? i.e. if they paid the husband who has not yet been charged, is there any way someone could challenge that in the future? This seems like an emotional rather than a business decision.
Did IJ just hire someone from The National Enquirer to boost readership? The title is luring and baited….I truly agree with other comments and for one am seriously disappointed with IJ for poor choice in judgement.
Jennifer Flowers, Vince Foster, not to mention all the other skeltons in their closet..Kimba Wood, Zoey Baird, Paula Jones and of course, Monica (gulp) Lewinsky, jeez, guys, could it be that this time Billy-Boy 86th this one ???
Inquiring minds want to know….(cue scary music)….
Gee, his wife is barely cold and he files a claim for life insurance money in December…..was there some love loss between them? Way to go, Hartford! I wouldn’t be too eager to hand over the money to the husband, either!
Oh, and the current administration is such a model of how a country should be run? Give me a break. You people and your cult leaders are more likely the cause of someone being shot in front of Bill Clinton’s house. Ambush George’s and the thousands he’s responsible for is nothing in comparision that Bill and his love for the ladies.
I had a case similar to this. The carrier was allowed to delay payment to the beneficiary for up to six months if law enforcement suspected the policy owner/beneficiary of being guilty. We were allowed to release funds from the life policy to the funeral home for payment of the funeral and other related final expenses. After the court ruled it was accidental, the funds (plus interest) were released to the beneficary. Luckily, it was settled and the case was closed in about a month.
I think this same situation occurred in the Scott Peterson case. He had a policy on his wife Lacey. While it was under investigation the life insurance company put it in escrow and waited for the courts to tell them who to pay. I think Scott even appealed the final ruling on it, because he didn’t receive the funds.
The wife was shot 11/18 & the husband filed for insurance in December–that doesn’t seem fast to me. There are all kinds of time limits for filing claims, as we know, and a spouse’s death is an emotional thing (even when there may be problems). I’ve known many people who had to deal w/a family member’s death who felt like they just had to get everything done as quickly as possible, so they could move on, and that included filing insurance & other paperwork. Maybe he needed the money for expenses, as we don’t know if the insurance company released the funds for the funeral? If the husband is guilty of something, the police investigating the shooting need to find the evidence. But that fact that a month after his wife died he filed for insurance money that was basiclly “left” to him shouldn’t be a factor in determining his guilt, and no insurance company should be making that judgment.
Kent,
That’s interesting. Since I only work in the P & C end of the insurance business, can you tell me if there is a deadline
(no pun intended) to file a claim on a life policy? Usually for auto & home claims there is a one year limit. Does the same hold true whith L & D?
To: SFOInsurance Lady
I’ve been an all lines agent for 29 years next month – agency manager/owner for 26 years. I write a lot of life but, most of my business is also P&C. You should know that auto & home policies don’t have a one year limit to file a claim. Most tort laws are fairly consistent from one state to another with the Uniform Commercial Code. The legal statue is usually two years for liability and four years for uninsured motorist coverages – two years for homeowners liability claims. Carriers want people to file claims within a year from the date of loss but, a claim MUST be opened if there is a law suit filed within the statue of limitations. I’ve had a number of customers receive law suit papers less than a week before the expiration of the statue of limitations. Some attorneys may feel they have a weak case and purposely wait until near the end of statue of limitations in hope that the carrier will have difficulty defending against the suit. Once the law suit is filed there is no time limit. I’ve got an uninsured motorist claim that has been pending since 1988 – 19 years. The claimant/insured is a criminal judge and his attorney is his brother – they served law suit papers to the carrier only five days before the statue of limitations ended. His son was killed by a drunk driver while driving an off road vehicle on the street and he is trying to collect under the uninsured motorist clause of his auto policy. They are hoping the laws will change to cover the death. In the meantime, the carrier must retain a reserve for the loss. My point is that the filing of a P&C claim is dependant upon the statue of limitation laws of your particular state – most of which are at least two years. However, if a claim is filed more than one year from the date of loss the insurance carrier is probably going to pay the price to repair a car or home based upon the cost as of the date of loss. If the claim is filed within a year of the date of loss then, the carrier will pay damages and supplements based on current repair costs – even though the cost of repairs may have increased substantially from the date of loss to the date the file was filed.
BACK TO YOUR LIFE QUESTION! I’ve had life claims filed and paid up to 14 years after the death of the insured. I wasn’t an agent yet when the policy was written but, the family were some of my customers and contacted my office when the policy was found – 14 years after the insured’s death. The original agent was also deceased and I didn’t have a contract with the policy’s carrier. However, I helped them collect on the policy and the carrier worked with me after I faxed them a statement from the beneficiary that they wanted me to help them out. The policy had been paid up for years and they didn’t know it existed at the time of the death. They came across it while cleaning out some old desk.
Loss reserves! Please remember that carriers must set aside reserves for possible IBNR (incurred but not reported) losses. With P&C the IBNR reserves for liability are two years and four years for uninsured motorist. With whole life policies the IBNR reserves are usually based upon the date the insured turns either 95 or 100 – depending upon which the carrier choses in their policy contract. My mother had one that was based upon age 80 – they sent her a check for the full policy death benefit when she turned 80 because it was paid up. With many term life policies, the death claim usually requires a claim be filed within a year or two from the end of the term period – depending upon the contract. Of course, the death would have had to occur within the policy term. However, I have heard of some good attorneys filing suit against the carrier many years after the death and the carrier paid because the death occurred during the term period. With life insurance, the carrier must set aside IBNR reserves for a claim to happen at any time during the policy term. As long as the death occured during the policy term it shouldn’t matter when the claim is filed if it is within the policy term because IBNR reserves are still on the books. Versus, auto & home polices which have a must shorter policy period.
I had a case like this only a couple of months ago. The insured took almost two months to file a claim for the death benefits BUT, not because of a police investigation. The beneficiary had to wait about six weeks for a death certificate because the hospital would not commit itself to stating what was the cause of death – she was only 47 years old. He already had a prepaid / prearranged funeral as they had done that years ago. I don’t know of any life carrier that will process a death claim without a death certificate. I’ve had a number of cases over the years where an overworked county office would take weeks to get a death certificate to the family.
I had a customer whose younger son was accidently shot to death by his older brother. The police had the mother/beneficiary under investigation to see if she should be charged for endangerment of a child since she didn’t properly secure the pistol used to shoot the child. If she had been found guilty then the insurance carrier would not have paid the remaining death benefit to her. Instead, a judge would have determined the beneficiary using the same state laws if the person were to die without a will. We were allowed to pay the funeral home but, it went directly to the funeral home. The family did the funeral arrangements and signed off on the invoice which was sent to me. The funeral home accepted a form we use which basically commits the life insurance company to paying them directly. However, we did have to wait until the death certificate was issued to process payment to the funeral home. The remainder was held in escrow until the police ruled it an accident.
Dear Kent,
Thank you for your response. It was very informative! Yes, I am aware of the UCC and the statute of limitations for our state as well as loss reserves and I understand that the carriers are giving us guidelines (1 year) to report claims (I, too, have been in the buisness since 1979…not well versed in L & D, though):)
I was wondering about the statute because the article states that the claim was filed within a month of the wife’s death.
So, contrary to what another poster said
(I believe it was JGD) about the husband being in a hurry to do things and get on with his life, wouldn’t one think that this would raise a “red flag” to the investigators as well as the insurance company for filing the claim so soon?
If this were my husband, I would be more concerned about finding the killer and bringing him to justice. I find it odd since now I know that he had plenty of time to file the claim. C’est la vie!
SFOInsurance Lady,
I hope that I wasn’t too thorough in my explanation but, I had no idea your background was so good. A lot of insurance professionals don’t know about or understand reserves, IBNR, etc.. They just don’t deal with it in their daily activities. My degree is in accounting and my minor was insurance / risk management so, I knew about these things even before I had an insurance license.
My customers / beneficiaries have always contacted me within a couple of days of the death – some even the day of the death. A lot like an auto accident! I’ve even had a few contact me a few days before the death if the insured was not expected to live long. The family simply wanted to have everything move as smoothly as possible once the death occurred. It gives me the opportunity to inform them on how important it is for them to get a death certificate ASAP. Most badly needed the insurance proceeds to pay for final expenses. However, without a death certificate it is like calling in an auto claim and not being able to tell the adjuster whether it was a comprehensive or collision loss or having any information on the other party involved in the accident. I can make the carrier aware that the death has occured but, formal filing of the death claim isn’t going anywhere without a death certificate. I tell the customer to have the funeral home contact me but, that I must have the death certificate to proceed with filing the claim. The form which I send to the funeral home is like a promisory note that the insurance carrier is making a promise to pay once the claim has processed. I have never had a funeral home decline to accept the form that I send them.
In the situation under discussion, it is my guess that the agent was contacted promptly after the death but, that a formal death claim was not filed for over a month due to the death certifcate not being released by the authorities. That scenario is not unusual at all.
Talk about sensationalism! The insurer is not balking at payment. They just do not know whom should receive the proceeds and are asking the court to decide. How about reading your article first before you decide on a title for it?
Amend..Right on Pat..
And what relevance is it that this couple was a neighbor of the Clintons?
This headline looks like something taken out of the NY Daily News!
Agreed. Clearly the company is ready to pay and woiuld probably like to close this file. But I’m curious if anyone knows: what is their obligation? i.e. if they paid the husband who has not yet been charged, is there any way someone could challenge that in the future? This seems like an emotional rather than a business decision.
Right on, Bill! WGASA!!
Did IJ just hire someone from The National Enquirer to boost readership? The title is luring and baited….I truly agree with other comments and for one am seriously disappointed with IJ for poor choice in judgement.
Jennifer Flowers, Vince Foster, not to mention all the other skeltons in their closet..Kimba Wood, Zoey Baird, Paula Jones and of course, Monica (gulp) Lewinsky, jeez, guys, could it be that this time Billy-Boy 86th this one ???
Inquiring minds want to know….(cue scary music)….
Gee, his wife is barely cold and he files a claim for life insurance money in December…..was there some love loss between them? Way to go, Hartford! I wouldn’t be too eager to hand over the money to the husband, either!
Oh, and the current administration is such a model of how a country should be run? Give me a break. You people and your cult leaders are more likely the cause of someone being shot in front of Bill Clinton’s house. Ambush George’s and the thousands he’s responsible for is nothing in comparision that Bill and his love for the ladies.
I suspect the title used was the one given by the Associated Press, and was unaltered from the original article.
I had a case similar to this. The carrier was allowed to delay payment to the beneficiary for up to six months if law enforcement suspected the policy owner/beneficiary of being guilty. We were allowed to release funds from the life policy to the funeral home for payment of the funeral and other related final expenses. After the court ruled it was accidental, the funds (plus interest) were released to the beneficary. Luckily, it was settled and the case was closed in about a month.
I think this same situation occurred in the Scott Peterson case. He had a policy on his wife Lacey. While it was under investigation the life insurance company put it in escrow and waited for the courts to tell them who to pay. I think Scott even appealed the final ruling on it, because he didn’t receive the funds.
The wife was shot 11/18 & the husband filed for insurance in December–that doesn’t seem fast to me. There are all kinds of time limits for filing claims, as we know, and a spouse’s death is an emotional thing (even when there may be problems). I’ve known many people who had to deal w/a family member’s death who felt like they just had to get everything done as quickly as possible, so they could move on, and that included filing insurance & other paperwork. Maybe he needed the money for expenses, as we don’t know if the insurance company released the funds for the funeral? If the husband is guilty of something, the police investigating the shooting need to find the evidence. But that fact that a month after his wife died he filed for insurance money that was basiclly “left” to him shouldn’t be a factor in determining his guilt, and no insurance company should be making that judgment.
Kent,
That’s interesting. Since I only work in the P & C end of the insurance business, can you tell me if there is a deadline
(no pun intended) to file a claim on a life policy? Usually for auto & home claims there is a one year limit. Does the same hold true whith L & D?
To: SFOInsurance Lady
I’ve been an all lines agent for 29 years next month – agency manager/owner for 26 years. I write a lot of life but, most of my business is also P&C. You should know that auto & home policies don’t have a one year limit to file a claim. Most tort laws are fairly consistent from one state to another with the Uniform Commercial Code. The legal statue is usually two years for liability and four years for uninsured motorist coverages – two years for homeowners liability claims. Carriers want people to file claims within a year from the date of loss but, a claim MUST be opened if there is a law suit filed within the statue of limitations. I’ve had a number of customers receive law suit papers less than a week before the expiration of the statue of limitations. Some attorneys may feel they have a weak case and purposely wait until near the end of statue of limitations in hope that the carrier will have difficulty defending against the suit. Once the law suit is filed there is no time limit. I’ve got an uninsured motorist claim that has been pending since 1988 – 19 years. The claimant/insured is a criminal judge and his attorney is his brother – they served law suit papers to the carrier only five days before the statue of limitations ended. His son was killed by a drunk driver while driving an off road vehicle on the street and he is trying to collect under the uninsured motorist clause of his auto policy. They are hoping the laws will change to cover the death. In the meantime, the carrier must retain a reserve for the loss. My point is that the filing of a P&C claim is dependant upon the statue of limitation laws of your particular state – most of which are at least two years. However, if a claim is filed more than one year from the date of loss the insurance carrier is probably going to pay the price to repair a car or home based upon the cost as of the date of loss. If the claim is filed within a year of the date of loss then, the carrier will pay damages and supplements based on current repair costs – even though the cost of repairs may have increased substantially from the date of loss to the date the file was filed.
BACK TO YOUR LIFE QUESTION! I’ve had life claims filed and paid up to 14 years after the death of the insured. I wasn’t an agent yet when the policy was written but, the family were some of my customers and contacted my office when the policy was found – 14 years after the insured’s death. The original agent was also deceased and I didn’t have a contract with the policy’s carrier. However, I helped them collect on the policy and the carrier worked with me after I faxed them a statement from the beneficiary that they wanted me to help them out. The policy had been paid up for years and they didn’t know it existed at the time of the death. They came across it while cleaning out some old desk.
Loss reserves! Please remember that carriers must set aside reserves for possible IBNR (incurred but not reported) losses. With P&C the IBNR reserves for liability are two years and four years for uninsured motorist. With whole life policies the IBNR reserves are usually based upon the date the insured turns either 95 or 100 – depending upon which the carrier choses in their policy contract. My mother had one that was based upon age 80 – they sent her a check for the full policy death benefit when she turned 80 because it was paid up. With many term life policies, the death claim usually requires a claim be filed within a year or two from the end of the term period – depending upon the contract. Of course, the death would have had to occur within the policy term. However, I have heard of some good attorneys filing suit against the carrier many years after the death and the carrier paid because the death occurred during the term period. With life insurance, the carrier must set aside IBNR reserves for a claim to happen at any time during the policy term. As long as the death occured during the policy term it shouldn’t matter when the claim is filed if it is within the policy term because IBNR reserves are still on the books. Versus, auto & home polices which have a must shorter policy period.
I had a case like this only a couple of months ago. The insured took almost two months to file a claim for the death benefits BUT, not because of a police investigation. The beneficiary had to wait about six weeks for a death certificate because the hospital would not commit itself to stating what was the cause of death – she was only 47 years old. He already had a prepaid / prearranged funeral as they had done that years ago. I don’t know of any life carrier that will process a death claim without a death certificate. I’ve had a number of cases over the years where an overworked county office would take weeks to get a death certificate to the family.
I had a customer whose younger son was accidently shot to death by his older brother. The police had the mother/beneficiary under investigation to see if she should be charged for endangerment of a child since she didn’t properly secure the pistol used to shoot the child. If she had been found guilty then the insurance carrier would not have paid the remaining death benefit to her. Instead, a judge would have determined the beneficiary using the same state laws if the person were to die without a will. We were allowed to pay the funeral home but, it went directly to the funeral home. The family did the funeral arrangements and signed off on the invoice which was sent to me. The funeral home accepted a form we use which basically commits the life insurance company to paying them directly. However, we did have to wait until the death certificate was issued to process payment to the funeral home. The remainder was held in escrow until the police ruled it an accident.
Dear Kent,
Thank you for your response. It was very informative! Yes, I am aware of the UCC and the statute of limitations for our state as well as loss reserves and I understand that the carriers are giving us guidelines (1 year) to report claims (I, too, have been in the buisness since 1979…not well versed in L & D, though):)
I was wondering about the statute because the article states that the claim was filed within a month of the wife’s death.
So, contrary to what another poster said
(I believe it was JGD) about the husband being in a hurry to do things and get on with his life, wouldn’t one think that this would raise a “red flag” to the investigators as well as the insurance company for filing the claim so soon?
If this were my husband, I would be more concerned about finding the killer and bringing him to justice. I find it odd since now I know that he had plenty of time to file the claim. C’est la vie!
SFOInsurance Lady,
I hope that I wasn’t too thorough in my explanation but, I had no idea your background was so good. A lot of insurance professionals don’t know about or understand reserves, IBNR, etc.. They just don’t deal with it in their daily activities. My degree is in accounting and my minor was insurance / risk management so, I knew about these things even before I had an insurance license.
My customers / beneficiaries have always contacted me within a couple of days of the death – some even the day of the death. A lot like an auto accident! I’ve even had a few contact me a few days before the death if the insured was not expected to live long. The family simply wanted to have everything move as smoothly as possible once the death occurred. It gives me the opportunity to inform them on how important it is for them to get a death certificate ASAP. Most badly needed the insurance proceeds to pay for final expenses. However, without a death certificate it is like calling in an auto claim and not being able to tell the adjuster whether it was a comprehensive or collision loss or having any information on the other party involved in the accident. I can make the carrier aware that the death has occured but, formal filing of the death claim isn’t going anywhere without a death certificate. I tell the customer to have the funeral home contact me but, that I must have the death certificate to proceed with filing the claim. The form which I send to the funeral home is like a promisory note that the insurance carrier is making a promise to pay once the claim has processed. I have never had a funeral home decline to accept the form that I send them.
In the situation under discussion, it is my guess that the agent was contacted promptly after the death but, that a formal death claim was not filed for over a month due to the death certifcate not being released by the authorities. That scenario is not unusual at all.