Life Insurance Lawyer Serving MS & Resolving Disputes
Boonswang Law’s Team of Mississippi Life Insurance Lawyers Will Fight for You!
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The Mississippi life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law have decades of experience fighting to get life insurance beneficiaries paid.
You probably know how life insurance works – someone purchases life insurance to protect the financial stability of their loved ones. The policyholder then pays premiums throughout the policy term in exchange for coverage. If they die within the policy term, their beneficiaries receive the death benefit.
Unfortunately for both policyholders and their beneficiaries, it is rarely this simple. Life insurance companies only make money when they delay to deny claims, and frequently thwart the goals of the policyholder by denying or delaying payment on valid life insurance claims.
If your life insurance claim was denied or payment of your claim is being delayed, the MS life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law can help you.
The MS Life Insurance Lawyers at Boonswang Law Have Helped Beneficiaries from these Cities and the Surrounding Areas, Among Others:
- Jackson
- Gulfport
- Southaven
- Hattlesburg
- Biloxi
- Tupelo
- Meridian
- Olive Branch
- Greenville
- Horn Lake
- Oxford
- Pearl
- Madison
- Starkville
- Clinton
Contact Our Life Insurance Lawyers in MS to Discuss Your Life Insurance Claim at Your Free Consultation
Common Reasons Life Insurance Companies Deny Life Insurance Claims in MS
Policy Misinterpretation
Remember, life insurance companies only make profit for their shareholders when they collect premiums but deny death benefit claims! Unfortunately for beneficiaries, it is very common for life insurance companies to interpret the terms of the policy in such a way as to deny a payout.
Exclusion Applies to Cause of Death
“Exclusions” are causes of death that are not covered by a life insurance policy. Every life insurance policy will provide a list of exclusions, and they differ among insurers and among policies. Death from self-inflicted injuries and death from acts of war or terrorism are commonly excluded from coverage.
Life insurance companies frequently try to shoe-horn a policyholder’s death into one of the listed exclusions. When this happens, we investigate and are often able to show that none of the listed exclusions apply, and our clients get paid.
Call Boonswang Law’s Life Insurance Lawyers in Mississippi to Discuss Your Life Insurance Claim
Your loved one has died and you have enough to worry about without dealing with the life insurance company. Let us help you. Our experienced life insurance attorneys have been helping life insurance beneficiaries throughout Mississippi for decades. Put our experience to work for you.
Contact us to discuss your life insurance claim. Your initial no-obligation consultation is free of charge. We are ready to fight for you!
Policyholder Misrepresentation
When first purchasing a life insurance policy, the policyholder must complete an application and medical questionnaire. The policyholder must disclose all matters of personal information, including name, date of birth, address, occupation, hobbies, marital status, health history, medications, health of parents, and lifestyle habits such as exercising, smoking cigarettes, or drinking alcohol.
The life insurance companies use this information to determine the risk to them that the policyholder will die within the policy term and they will have to pay out. Those policyholders at greater risk of dying within the policy term pay higher premiums than those at less risk.
Any mistake or omission on the initial application for life insurance or the medical questionnaire will prompt the life insurance company to allege that the policyholder misrepresented themselves in order to get a lower premium payment. The life insurance company will then use that alleged instance of misrepresentation to retroactively cancel the policy for fraud and deny beneficiaries’ claims for death benefits.
If this happened to you, you should contest the denial of your claim. Call us for help.
Lapse of Coverage for Non-Payment of Premiums
A policyholder must pay premiums as they come due in order to maintain life insurance coverage. When they fail to pay, life insurance coverage ends and beneficiaries’ claims get denied.
If your claim was denied for this reason, you might think that is the end of the story. It may not be. The process for terminating life insurance coverage is highly regulated in every state, and all too often life insurance companies and employers who provide group life insurance coverage to their employees fail to follow those regulations. This can resul;t in nonpayment of premiums that is not the fault of the policyholder. Under these circumstances we have been able to get our beneficiary clients paid.
What to Expect when You Work with the MS Life Insurance Lawyers at Boonswang Law
It is likely you have never worked with a life insurance lawyer before. Our team of experienced MS life insurance lawyers will:
- Thoroughly review the life insurance policy to determine coverage and exclusions, and explain any problems to you
- Handle all correspondence from the life insurance company
- Handle negotiations with the life insurance company to get you your payout
- Thoroughly investigate all allegations made by the life insurance company in denying your claim
- Vigorously litigate your claim in court against the life insurance company when necessary.
Life insurance companies are looking out for their bottom line, just like any other type of business. The more in premium payments a life insurance company collects and the fewer death benefit claims they pay out,, the more money they make for their shareholders. In other words, the life insurance company interests are at odds with your interests and the policyholder’s interests.
The MS life insurance lawyers at Boonswang Law Firm will fight to get you the death benefits your loved one intended that you receive.
Common Questions about Life Insurance Benefits in MS
I Think Someone Had Life Insurance, How Do I Find Out If They Did?
Unfortunately, no national list or database of life insurance policyholders exists, so you will have to snoop around on your own. Try searching the contents of the policyholder’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. You might also ask your loved one’s employer if they had group life insurance through work.
How Long Do Life Insurance Companies Take to Pay Claims?
Life insurance beneficiaries should receive the death benefits within 30-60 days of filing a claim.
If you filed a life insurance claim and 60 days have passed, contact us for help. If the life insurance company is unreasonably delaying your payout, you may be entitled to interest!
Help! My Life Insurance Claim Was Denied? What Can I Do?
You can contest that denial. When you received the denial letter, you should have also received instructions on how to contest the denial of your claim. Unfortunately, many valid life insurance claims are initially denied, and life insurance companies hope you won’t fight back. Don’t take no for an answer! Call us for help contesting a life insurance claim denial in MS.
Who Can Change a Beneficiary Designation in Mississippi?
Only a policyholder can change their life insurance beneficiary designation. If someone else changed the beneficiary, this is fraud. Contact an experienced MS life insurance attorney to help you contest that designation immediately.
What Happens If the Beneficiary Predeceases the Life Insurance Policyholder?
If a primary beneficiary to a life insurance policy 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 be paid to the policyholder’s estate.
What if there is No Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation?
Just as when the beneficiary has predeceased the policyholder, the life insurance company will pay death benefits to the policyholder’s estate.
Just Before Death, the Beneficiary Designation Was Changed from Me to Someone Else - Can I Contest It?
You can. If you suspect the change was made fraudulently or under duress, the change can and should be contested. This type of case is very difficult to prove, so be sure to contact an experienced life insurance beneficiary attorney for help litigating this.
Can I Get a Payout from a Lapsed Life Insurance Policy?
It is possible. If your claim was denied due to lapse, you should contest the claim denial. YOu may get a payout after all if the lapse was not the fault of the policyholder.
For example, if an employer failed to give the policyholder conversion papers or improperly administered the policy, the beneficiary will still get paid. If the life insurance company failed to send the policyholder the legally-required notices of lapse, the beneficiary will still get paid. If the policyholder was eligible for disability waiver of premium and did not get it, the beneficiary will get paid.
Can a Beneficiary Designation Change After the Policyholder’s Death?
No! A beneficiary changed after the date of the policyholder’s death is fraudulent. Contact an experienced life insurance beneficiary attorney immediately.
I am the Sole Beneficiary - Can I Share Death Benefits with My Siblings?
Yes. No law, regulation, or rule prevents you from sharing the death benefit with anyone you choose. It is common for a policyholder to name only one child as a beneficiary with this expectation.
Life Insurance Attorneys Serving These States*
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- US Virgin Islands
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
