Unclaimed Life Insurance Payments and Benefits    

Generally it is the job of family members to notify the life insurance company of a policy owner's death. 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.

Lost 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 missing policyholders, and sixty million shares of MetLife arising from its demutualization went unclaimed.

By law, missing life insurance policy benefits and unclaimed demutualization compensation is held in trust until claimants come forward. This often happens due to a name change after marriage or divorce, an unreported change of address or expired postal forwarding order, and incomplete or illegible records. Government trustees recently took custody of $22.8 billion, of which less than $1 billion was reclaimed by owners or heirs.

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