Lost, Missing or Unknown Life Insurance Policy Search

More than one-quarter of all life insurance policy benefits go unclaimed on death of the insured, because family members simply aren't aware a policy exists, or don't know how to find it. Because it is the job of the  beneficiary to notify the life insurance company of a policy owner's death, little effort is made to trace or track down missing heirs.

And missing heirs can be difficult to find, due to name changes after marriage or divorce, an unreported change of address or expired postal forwarding order after a move, and incomplete or illegible records. Military personnel are particularly vulnerable, given their transient lifestyle..

Policyholders may also be entitled to an unexpected windfall. As a growing number of mutual life insurance companies - including MetLife, John Hancock, Prudential and others - have converted to stock ownership, millions of current and former policyholders and heirs are entitled to receive stock and cash, in addition to policy benefits.

When John Hancock demutualized, it did not have current addresses for 400,000 policyholders. Prudential could not locate 1.2 million lost policyholders, and sixty million shares of MetLife arising from its demutualization went unclaimed.

By law, unclaimed policy benefits and demutualization compensation are held in trust until claimants come forward. Government officials  recently took custody of $22.8 billion in unclaimed cash, of which less than $1 billion was reclaimed by owners and heirs.

Even if your insurance company no longer exists, payments of up to $300,000 are possible from state insurance guaranty associations.

If you have reason to believe a life insurance policy exists but have not received payment, complete the form below to initiate a search.