Life and Health Insurance Policies

If a person has a life insurance policy on someone, and then they die what happens?

If a parent has had a life insurance policy on their child since they were small, what happens when the policy owner dies? My dad had one for all of us kids. He is 85 and in very poor health. Would it be possible for us to have our policies and keep up the payments or can't the beneficiary be changed? His wife may not give them to us anyway but I have no life insurance and it would help me immensely.

Public Comments

1. Usually if the policy holder dies that nulls the policy unless their is a co-owner named. Your best bet is to contact the insurance company and ask them what their policy is. If your dad is of sound mind this may be the time for you to ask him to change the name on the policy or make you co-owner. No benefits would be paid out on the policy either way as the named insured has not died only one (or the) policy holder i hope this helps
2. Each child needs to contact ins. co. and ask to get a copy of the policy while he is alive. Or she can cash them all in and the parties on.
3. I have several policies that I am the owner of( all my kids are insured and a grandson) through Metlife. If I die,unless otherwise named, the insured(my child) becomes the owner of the policy. You would be responsible for payments. If his wife isn't named as owner it doesn't matter if she has them in her possession or not. You would be the owner. You could file for a lost policy with a representative of the insurance company.
4. Right now, with you being the insured & not the owner, there is nothing you can do. Only the owner can do something with the policy. You can have your father make the change of ownership by contacting either the agent or the company directly & fill out the papers. If he would pass before that happens, unless there is a co-owner (or contingent owner) who is still living, the policy would transfer to the insured & you & your siblings would become owners of your own policies. Even if his wife has physical possession of it (remember, the possession being 9/10 of law only applies to 5th grade!) she cant do anything unless she is the owner. Assuming that there is no other named owner, you will become the owner of your own policy (same with your siblings) & you may then name your own beneficiaries. You will just have to give the insurance company a copy of the death certificate.
5. Unless there is a named contingent owner (this is unfortunately rare), the ownership of the policy would be passed from his estate like any other asset (by contract, will, then intestacy). Changing beneficiary is a right reserved only for the owner. The best thing to do is to probably ask to transfer ownership from your dad to you kids while he is alive. This is usually a simple one page form that you can get from the life insurance company.
6. It's highly unlikely that the policy is still active. Usually with those children's policies, the ownership is transferred to the child when they turn 21. 90% of the time, the parent has let the coverage lapse WAY before then, as it's extremely expensive, for very little coverage. Do you have the policy information? You can call the insurance company and ask them if it's active. If it is, you can ask your father now, to transfer each policy to each kid. The wife doesn't get a choice - you can't "inheirit" ownership of a policy, so it's not like SHE automatically gets control. But I'd be very surprised if coverage is actually in force. If you have no life insurance and want it, go buy some. Dad's policy likely is for $5,000 - burial costs. And IF it's still active, he's probably PAID about $25,000 for it so far.
7. Ownership of the policies would pass according to his estate, will, etc.. It is possible to change the ownership of the policy where you can have each policy changed so that you are now the owner of your policies. The owner and beneficiary are two different things. The owner controls the policy and dictates who will receive the benefit, etc.. the benficiary is the person who receives the death benefit proceeds
8. 1. Does the policy has a contingent owner? Contingent owner will take over the policy ownership 2. Or he can assigned the policies back to the children (absolute assignment) and tranfer back the policy ownership right back to the children