How can I claim insurance benefits on someone who has died without a letter of administration?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
How can I claim insurance benefits on someone who has died without a letter of administration?
My mother passed without a Will. She left no bills. I am trying to claim for her insurance benefit? Is a form I could get without aletter of administration? Could I get a legal form specifically this and have it notarized? Would this acceptable?
Asked on June 21, 2011 under Estate Planning, California
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
First, contact the insurance company and see if you are listed as a beneficiary. If you are listed as a beneficiary, it passes outside of probate and you do not need a letter of administration, merely your identification and a death certificate. If you are not listed as a beneficiary and someone else is, the proceeds are not yours. If you are not listed as a beneficiary and no one else is, then contact the insurance company and find out what you need to do. Second, contact your state insurance department and find out if it has brochures or could point you to state laws covering insurance benefits and qualifications or conditions to collect. Third, if your mother passed intestate with absolutely no bills, she may still have other assets you would need to probate, like real property, cars, bank accounts, personal property and the like. If any of these require a title change and you are not listed as a joint owner with rights of survivorship or as a beneficiary, you would probably need to probate if you are looking at obtaining any titles without problem. Contact your probate court and see what the minimum is to have to probate property. You might not have to probate if the assets are below a certain amount.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.