When and how beneficiaries receive funds
Life insurance is a very common asset that is involved in the long-term benefit financial planning of many people. Purchasing life insurance is a way to protect your loved ones and provide them with the financial support they may need after your death. For example, you can buy life insurance, help your spouse pay the mortgage or daily bills, or finance your child’s college education.
When buying life insurance, understand how it works and your beneficiaries can receive the benefits of your policy. This will help you choose a choice of spending that best suits your estate planning goals.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Life insurance is a contract between a policyholder and an insurance company to pay a death benefit upon the death of the insured.
- After the death of the insured, the life insurance company should be contacted as soon as possible to begin the claims and payment process.
- It is important to choose your life insurance beneficiaries carefully to ensure the right people are eligible to receive benefits from your policy.
- Beneficiaries can receive life insurance benefits in different ways, including lump-sum payments, installments, annuities, and retained equity accounts.
Life insurance basics
Life insurance is a type of insurance contract. When you buy life insurance, you agree to pay a premium to keep your coverage intact. If you die, a life insurance company can pay a death benefit to the person you name as the beneficiary of your policy.
Some life insurance policies offer both a death benefit and a lifetime benefit. The Life Benefit Rider allows you to withdraw the policy’s death benefit before your death. This type of rider is beneficial if you are terminally ill and need funds to pay for medical expenses.
& Some life insurance companies have designed policies that allow policyholders to withdraw the face value of the policy in the event of a terminal, chronic or critical illness. “These policies enable policyholders to be the beneficiaries of their life insurance policies,” said Ted Bernstein, owner of LifeCycle Financial Planners LLC.
When purchasing life insurance, you must consider:
- How much insurance do you need?
- Term life insurance or permanent life insurance makes more sense
- how much will you pay
- Which drivers, if any, would you like to include
In terms of coverage amounts, life insurance calculators help choose death benefits. Term life insurance provides you with a permanent life insurance policy for a fixed term that will cover you for life as long as you pay the premium. Between the two, term life insurance tends to be cheaper, but permanent life insurance can provide the following benefits: Cash value accumulation.
The cost of life insurance premiums may depend on the type of policy, the amount of the death benefit, your riders, and your general health. This is not uncommon and must be completed as part of the underwriting process for ancillary medical examinations.
A hybrid life insurance policy allows you to combine life insurance with long-term care insurance.
Choose a life insurance beneficiary
As part of the process of buying life insurance, you need to name one or more beneficiaries. This is the person you want to get a death benefit from your policy when you die. A life insurance beneficiary can be:
- mate
- origin
- brothers and sisters
- adult children
- business partner
- charitable organization
- trust
You can choose to designate a single beneficiary or primary beneficiary and one or more contingent beneficiaries. A or with beneficiaries If the primary beneficiary dies, you will receive a death benefit from your life insurance policy.
Minor children cannot be beneficiaries of life insurance.
Make a claim
Death benefits are not automatically paid out of a life insurance policy. The beneficiary must first file the claim with the life insurance company. Depending on the insurance company’s policy, this can be done online, or a paper claim can be required. Regardless of how you ultimately apply, companies often require paperwork and supporting evidence to process claims and payments.
Your beneficiary may be required to provide a copy of the policy along with a claim form. They must also submit a certified copy of the death certificate through the county or city government or the hospital or nursing home where the insured died.
“The death certificate must be submitted to the insurance company’s address listed on the policy along with the statement of claim, sometimes referred to as the beneficiary’s signed application for benefits,” said retirement insurance attorney Luke Brown.
The strategy of having a revocable or irrevocable trust is to ensure that the insurance company has a copy of the trust document to identify the owner and beneficiary, Bernstein added.
There is no set period for how long you must file a life insurance claim, but the earlier you file, the better.
When paying benefits
Life insurance benefits are usually paid when the insured dies. The beneficiary files a death claim with the insurance company by submitting a certified copy of the death certificate. Many states allow insurers 30 days to review claims, after which they can pay compensation, deny compensation or ask for more information. If a company denies your claim, it will usually provide a reason.
According to Chris Huntley, founder of Huntley Wealth Insurance Services, most insurers pay within 30 to 60 days from the date of the claim.
“There is no set time frame,” he added. & But insurance companies have an incentive to pay as soon as possible after receiving a true death certificate to avoid high-interest charges for late payment of claims;
Life Insurance Policies: How Payouts Work
Payment delay
Several situations can cause payment delays. If the insured dies within the first two years after the policy is issued, the beneficiary may face a delay of six to 12 months. Reason: One- to two-year contestable terms.
& Most insurance policies include this clause, allowing the carrier to investigate the original application to ensure there is no promise of fraud. As long as the insurer can’t prove the insured lied on the application, benefits are usually paid, Huntley said. Most policies also contain suicide clauses that allow insurance companies to deny coverage if the insured commits suicide within the first two years of the policy.
Payments may also be delayed when a homicide is listed on the insured’s death certificate. In this case, the claims representative may communicate with the detective assigned to the case to exclude the beneficiary as a suspect. The benefit will remain until any doubts about the beneficiary’s death related to the death of the insured are identified. If there are charges, the insurance company can withhold payments until the charges are dropped or the beneficiary is acquitted.
Payment delays may also occur if:
- The insured dies in violations such as drunk driving.
- The assured lied on the policy application.
- The insured leaves out health problems or dangerous hobbies or activities, such as skydiving.
If the insured dies within the first two years of the policy, the insurance company can delay payments for 6 to 12 months.
payment option
You can also help decide your death benefit You will be paid when you die. Here are a few payment options you and your beneficiaries can choose from.
one-time payment
Beneficiaries have been receiving lump-sum payments for a portion of the proceeds since the industry was established more than 200 years ago. Richard Reich, president of Denmark insurance services, said the default payment option for most policies was still a one-off.
Installations and Annuities
Bernstein said modern life insurance policies have made huge strides in how they pay out claims to policy beneficiaries. These include installment options, or annuity options, where benefits and accrued interest are paid periodically over the life of the beneficiary. These options allow policyholders to choose a pre-determined, guaranteed income stream of 5 to 40 years;
“For income protection life insurance, most life insurance buyers prefer an installment option that guarantees benefits over a certain number of years,” says Bernstein.
Beneficiaries should keep in mind that any interest income they receive is taxed. If the death benefit is fairly high, you may pay it off in one lump sum rather than in installments because you’ll end up paying more tax on the interest.
Retained asset account
Some insurers offer beneficiaries of larger policies a checkbook instead of a lump sum or regular installments. The insurance company, as a bank or financial institution, deposits claims into an account that allows you to write checks against the balance. This type of account does not allow deposits but pays interest to the beneficiary.
The term is; advance payment of death benefit. Please review the Accelerated Benefit Rider carefully for details ) Traditionally, life insurance policies only payout on the death of the policyholder. Talk to your insurance agent about whether this option makes sense for you.
Consider talking with your insurance agent and/or estate planning attorney about which payment method will work best.
Bottom line
Life insurance provides peace of mind for both the policyholder and their loved ones, avoiding financial hardship in the event of one’s death. Knowing how the process works, from buying life insurance to filing a claim to receiving a payout, can help you continue your insurance plan with confidence.
