Life Insurance Lawyer Serving Connecticut
The Life Insurance Law Firm – Boonswang Law
Boonswang Law’s Experienced CT Life Insurance Lawyers Will Fight to Get You Your Benefits
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Contact the Connecticut Life Insurance Lawyers at Boonswang Law to Discuss Your Claim – Free of Charge!
For decades we have helped life insurance beneficiaries throughout Connecticut get the life insurance payouts their loved ones intended.
People purchase a life insurance policy to ensure the financial well-being of their beneficiaries. They expect that if they die within the policy term, their loved ones receive the death benefit.
It is that simple. Like other businesses, life insurance companies must make money for their shareholders and are concerned with their bottom line. For this reason, they often deny or delay payment on valid life insurance claims.
If your life insurance claim was denied or is being delayed, the CT life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law can help you fight back and get your payout.
Out Connecticut Life Insurance lawyers Have Helped Beneficiaries from these Cities and the Surrounding Areas:
Common Reasons Life Insurance Claims Are Denied in Connecticut
The Policy Lapsed Due to Nonpayment
Life insurance companies provide coverage in exchange for policyholders’ premium payments. If a policyholder does not remit payment when due, life insurance coverage may lapse and terminate and beneficiaries’ claims will be denied.
If your claim was denied due to lapse in coverage, you should fight back because beneficiaries can often get paid on lapsed policies. Every state regulates the termination of life insurance coverage, and often life insurance companies and employers who provide group life insurance coverage to employees fail to follow those regulations, resulting in nonpayment of premiums that is not the fault of the policyholder.
If your claim was denied due to lapse, we may be able to get you paid. Call us to discuss your claim.
Retroactive Cancellation Due to Alleged Misrepresentation
When someone applies for life insurance, they complete an application and medical questionnaire. The life insurance company calculates the policyholder’s risk of dying within the policy term by factoring in things like a policyholder’s age, weight, occupation, health and medical conditions, and lifestyle habits like drinking alcohol or smoking. Policyholders who are at greater risk of dying during the policy term pay higher premiums than those who are less at risk.
If a policyholder makes a mistake or fails to disclose information on the application or the medical questionnaire, the life insurance company will allege that they misrepresented themselves in order to get a lower premium payment and then retroactively cancel the policy and deny your claim.
Call us if your claim was denied due to misrepresentation. We have gotten many of our clients paid when the life insurance company alleged the policyholder misrepresented themselves.
A Policy Exclusion Allegedly Applies
Every life insurance policy will include a list of causes of death that are not covered. These are called “exclusions.” For example, suicide and death due to terorism or acts of war are common exclusions in life insurance policies.
If there is even a remote possibility an exclusion can apply to a policyholder’s death, know that the life insurance company will try to use it to deny your claim. In these cases, we investigate and can often show that the exclusion does not apply, and we get our beneficiary clients paid.
The Policyholder Dies Overseas
When a policyholder dies outside the U.S., life insurance companies generally delay payment on claims for death benefits because of a delay in receiving a death certificate, or because a foreign death certificate contains insufficient information regarding the policyholder’s death.
If the life insurance company is delaying payment on your life insurance claim for this reason, contact us. We can help – and the life insurance company may owe you interest!
READY TO TALK TO AN ATTORNEY ABOUT YOUR LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS?
CLICK HEREWhat to Expect When You Work with a Connecticut Life Insurance Lawyer at Boonswang Law
You probably have never worked with a life insurance lawyer before. Here’s what we do for our beneficiary clients, among other things:
- Review the policy provisions to determine coverage and exclusions
- Review the denial letter and any other correspondence from the life insurance company
- Investigate allegations made by the life insurance company
- Negotiate with the life insurance company to get you a payout
- Litigate your claim in court when the life insurance company is acting unreasonably or dishonestly in delaying or denying the payment of your valid life insurance claim
You should know that all life insurance companies employ a team of experts, consultants, and lawyers all looking out for the companies’ profit margins. The more premiums a life insurance company collects and the fewer death benefit claims they pay out, the more profit they make for their shareholders. In other words, the interests of the life insurance company are at odds with yours and with the policyholder’s.
You can count on the Connecticut life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law to fight back to get you the death benefits you were meant to receive.
Common Questions about Life Insurance Claims in Connecticut
The Beneficiary Was Changed Just Before the Policyholder’s Death from Me to Someone Else, What Should I Do?
A policyholder can change their beneficiary designation any time they choose, to whomever they wish. However, if you suspect a beneficiary change was made fraudulently or under duress, you can contest it. Fraud cases can be very difficult to prove. Contact an experienced life insurance beneficiary attorney for help litigating this.
What Happens When a Minor is Designated as a Life Insurance Beneficiary?
A minor cannot directly receive life insurance death benefits. In these cases, a court will have to appoint a conservator to administer the funds on behalf of the minor beneficiary. Unfortunately, there is little to prevent a conservator from using the funds for their own benefit.
If a policyholder wants a minor to receive the death benefit, they should set up a trust with the minor as beneficiary of the trust, and name the trust as beneficiary of the life insurance policy. This way, they can select who will act as trustee.
Can a Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation Be Changed After the Policyholder’s Death?
Absolutely not! A beneficiary designation change after the date of the policyholder’s death is fraudulent. Contact an experienced life insurance beneficiary attorney immediately.
When Can a Spouse Contest a Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation?
If you are a spouse or ex-spouse and you were supposed to be the named beneficiary for any reason and someone else was named, you can contest it. For example, some policyholders are under court order to designate their ex-spouse as beneficiary to insure support payments.
Contact us if you were supposed to be a beneficiary on a life insurance policy but someone else was named instead – we can help you.
The Beneficiary Died Before the Policyholder, What Happens Now?
If the primary beneficiary died before the policyholder, the life insurance company will pay the death benefit to the secondary beneficiary or the contingent beneficiary. If the policyholder did not designate secondary or contingent beneficiaries, the death benefit can be paid to the policyholder’s estate.
My Life Insurance Claim Was Denied, What Can I Do?
You can contest that denial. Why? Because life insurance companies frequently deny valid claims.
When you receive the denial letter you should also receive documents explaining how to contest the denial with the life insurance company. Call us – we can help you fight back.
Can I Get My Claim Paid on a Lapsed Life Insurance Policy?
Maybe. You must contest the denial and investigate why the lapse occurred. If the lapse was not the fault of the policyholder, it is possible to still get a payout if, for example, an employer failed to give the policyholder conversion papers or improperly administered the policy, or the life insurance company failed to send the policyholder any of the lapse notices that are required under the law.
Call our CT life insurance lawyers if your life insurance claim was denied due to lapse. We will investigate and get you paid if at all possible.
How Can I Find Out if Someone Had Life Insurance?
If you suspect a loved one had a life insurance policy, you will have to dig around for evidence because there is no nationwide database of all policyholders.
The contents of a safe-deposit box or your loved one’s desk drawers might give you a clue. You can also look through your loved one’s recent mail for premium notices, and look through bank account statements for evidence of premium payments.
How Long Does It Take to Receive a Life Insurance Payout?
A life insurance company should pay the beneficiary within 30-60 days of the claim being submitted.
If this time has passed and your claim has not been paid yet, contact us. When a life insurance company unreasonably delays payment on a life insurance claim, they may owe you interest on the death benefit.
My Life Insurance Payout is Delayed, What Can I Do?
You can call us to investigate the reason for the delay. If the delay is unreasonable, meaning, the life insurance company had no valid reason for waiting to pay your claim, you may be entitled to interest on the death benefit. Call us to discuss your case.
Talk with an Experienced Connecticut Life Insurance Lawyer at Boonswang Law
We have been helping life insurance beneficiaries throughout Connecticut for decades. Our goal is to get you the death benefits you are entitled to in a timely and efficient manner.
Contact us today for your free, no-obligation consultation. We are ready to fight for you!