How long do you have to claim life insurance?

Answer 1

The initial answer is not correct. While there may not be a statute of limitations as such for a life insurance claim (like there is for a civil lawsuit), waiting to file a claim often makes it far more difficult to collect. Among the reasons include: (1) the insurance policy may become lost. It shows the policy number which makes it a great deal more difficult for the insurer to identify the applicable policy. (2) the insurer may merge with another and, therefore, it becomes much more difficult for the beneficiary to determine with what company to file a claim. (3) Periodically, as required by state insurance regulators, insurers must report on unclaimed property. Insurance policies that have not been redeemed are, for life insurers, part of that process. Therefore, the failure to promptly claim life insurance proceeds runs the risk of the policy being turned over to an Unclaimed Property Division of a state. The state can be where the insurer was domiciled, rather than where the insured or the beneficiary lived. Therefore, it is made more difficult to find and claim the proceeds.

Answer 2

Technically, you can take as long as you want. But it does you no good to wait because you only get the face value of the policy.