Everything You Need to know About a Nominee/Beneficiary in the Life Insurance

A nominee/beneficiary of a Life insurance policy is the one who is assigned by the policyholder to receive the claim amount after their death. To receive these proceeds, the insurance companies have formulated a claim settlement process.

If you’re grieving a loved one’s death, this procedure can be a burden. However, insurance companies understand your distress and would do their best to speed up the process so that they don’t cause you any more trouble.

Although, it is always better to be prepared by doing your research before applying for a claim so that nothing comes in your way (Lately, Insurance companies are quite cautious as insurance frauds are common).

Before we lay out a step wise procedure for you, there are some things that we would like you to keep in mind.

1. Contact the insurance company as soon as possible, a delay in intimation can be perceived as insurance fraud.
2. In case you have a unit-linked insurance plan, the death benefit is equal to the cover of your life insurance policy or the fund value, whichever is higher. (the fund value is net asset value on that particular day multiplied by the number of units held)
3. Make sure that the insurance policy is active and all the premiums have been paid.
4. Is the cause of death covered by this policy?
5. Read the policy document carefully to understand the exclusions of the policy and riders if any, it’s always important to know where you stand.
6. Life insurance benefits are usually paid within 30 to 60 days of the application of a claim, but there can be delays.
7. Payout options include lump sums, installments and annuities, and retained asset accounts.

How a Nominee can Claim Insurance Cover Application Process

Step 1- Claim Intimation

The first step would be to inform the insurance company about the death of the insured in writing. It is imperative to reveal all details about the death (if you hide any detail and the insurance company finds out, this process will get tougher)

The intimation can even be done by a close relative or your insurance agent, it doesn’t have to be the nominee.

Inform the insurance company about the date, place, and cause of death.

Step 2 – Fill the claim form & gather all relevant documents.

The claim form can either be online or offline (A telephonic conversation or by physically visiting the insurer’s office), make sure you fill in all the details by yourself and don’t miss out on anything as even a simple mistake could cause a delay in your claim process.

Here’s the list of Documents you will need to Claim Insurance Cover

1. Death Certificate
2. Identification documents of the nominee (Adhar card, Pan card, Passport, etc)
3. Original policy document
4. Deeds of assignments/ re-assignments if any
5. Legal evidence of title, if the policy is not assigned or nominated
6. Discharge form of the hospital if any (executed and witnessed)
7. If it’s an unnatural death, a post-mortem report and police FIR would be required.
8. Hospital records/medical reports (if the cause of death was an illness or unnaturally)
9. Some additional documents may be required if the policy includes a rider.

We would suggest contacting the insurance company for an updated checklist.

Submit all these documents at the earliest to speed up the process.

Step 3 – Claim settlement

Regulation 8 of the IRDA (Policy holder’s Interest) Regulations, 2002, states that the insurer must settle a claim within 30 days from the date on which the documents have been received.

However, if further investigation is required, then the insurance company must do so within 6 months from the date of receipt of the written intimation of the claim.

Step 4 – Payout options

Your insurance company may give you the following payout options –

1.    Lump-sum payments – The whole death benefit would be paid to you at once.

2.    Installment or annuities – in which the claim amount and accumulated interest are paid out in parts over the life of the nominee.

We, at Insurance Samadhan are here to help you through these times of distress, Register here and we will be right there with you!

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