Emotional Investment Decisions Lead to Financial Blunders
It is always difficult to fill up the emotional void caused by the death of a loved one. However, you ought to protect your family from all financial turbulence. Life Insurance claim is one of the toughest job you may face after the death of a family member, but if you know the right way to file your claim procedure you could get a lot of benefits and protection coverage even in your hardest times. Here are the important things you should remember before applying for a Life Insurance Claim.
What is a Death claim?
When the Life Assured person dies during the term of the policy, i.e., before the date of maturity of his/her life insurance policy, the proceeds under the policy can be claimed by the beneficiary. This is called a Death Claim.
How would you intimate the insurance company about a death claim?
For online policies, you could claim it online by filling up the online form. For physical policies, you would get a claim intimation or notification form from the insurance company. To fill up the claim intimation form, you would be needing the following details – policy number, name of the insured, date of death, place of death, name of the claimant, etc.
Document Submission
If you’re the claimant, you would be required to submit your statement, the original policy document, death certificate, police FIR and post mortem report (for accidental death)/ certificate & records from the doctor treating the deceased (for death due to illness). The insurance companies may request for some additional documents based on the sum at risk and policy duration.
Time for Settlement
As per the IRDA regulation, the insurer is required to settle the claim within 30 days of receipt of all documents which includes clarification sought by the insurer. In case of any further investigation, the insurer would require to complete all the procedures within next six months of receiving the written claim intimation.
Who would receive the Death claim benefit?
The Death claim is usually payable to the legal heirs of the Life Assured person. Or else, the nominee would be entitled to receive the Death claim benefit.
No nomination on death
What would you do if there is no nomination of death of the Life Assured person? Or say, if both, the Life Assured as well as the Nominee dies in the same event? The only approach you could make is to claim for the insurance amount by showing an evidence of title, say, a Succession Certificate from a court of law.
In case of a Claim Dispute
Even after filing a grievance to the insurance company, if you are not getting a satisfactory response. You could directly write to the Grievance Redressal Cell of IRDA which will then take up the issue with the concerned company.
Or even, you could approach the Insurance Ombudsman, in case you are looking for a judicial decision in respect to your claims. This would help you settle the issue in an out of court settlement.
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