Life Insurance Lawyer Serving Hawaii, Fighting Denied Claims

You have 60 days to contest a life insurance claim denial if the policy is an employer-sponsored group life insurance policy. For all other life insurance, there is no time limit. However, the sooner you dispute a denied life insurance claim the better because we will have a better chance of collecting evidence that your claim should be paid.

Only the policyholder, but in some cases, someone with power of attorney. If someone else changed the beneficiary designation, that is fraud. Contact our life insurance lawyers immediately.

If the primary beneficiary dies before the policyholder and the policyholder did not update their beneficiary designation accordingly, 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 pay out to the policyholder’s estate. Unfortunately, this means the death benefits are subject to the claims of the policyholder’s creditors.

As when the named beneficiary has predeceased the policyholder and there are no contingent or secondary beneficiaries, the life insurance company pays out to the policyholder’s estate.

There is no national database or list of life insurance policyholders, so you will have to investigate yourself. Consider searching the contents of your loved one’s safe-deposit box and desk drawers, and looking through your loved one’s recent mail for premium notices and through bank account statements for evidence of premium payments.

Yes! You can share life insurance proceeds with anyone you choose. It is common for a policyholder to name one child as a beneficiary and for that child to share with siblings.

It is possible to still get a payout if the lapse in coverage was not the policyholder’s  fault. For example, if an employer failed to give the policyholder conversion papers or improperly administered the policy, the beneficiary may still get paid. If the life insurance company failed to send the policyholder the legally-required notices of lapse, the beneficiary may still get paid. If the policyholder was eligible for disability waiver of premium and did not get it, the beneficiary may still get paid.

It is possible to still get a payout if the lapse in coverage was not the policyholder’s  fault. For example, if an employer failed to give the policyholder conversion papers or improperly administered the policy, the beneficiary may still get paid. If the life insurance company failed to send the policyholder the legally-required notices of lapse, the beneficiary may still get paid. If the policyholder was eligible for disability waiver of premium and did not get it, the beneficiary may still get paid.

First, know that a policyholder can change their beneficiary designation(s) at any to whomever they choose, as long as they are of sound mind. However, a beneficiary change can and should be contested if you suspect the change was made fraudulently or under duress. This type of case is very difficult to prove, so be sure to contact an experienced life insurance beneficiary attorney for help.

If a spouse or ex-spouse was supposed to be the beneficiary for any reason and someone else was named, or if the beneficiary changed to someone else under duress or fraudulently, you should contest the beneficiary designation. We can help you.