When someone passes away, their life insurance policy is supposed to pay out to beneficiaries. But here’s the problem: insurance companies only pay if someone files a claim. If you don’t know a policy exists, you’ll never claim it. Right now, billions of dollars in life insurance benefits sit unclaimed because families simply don’t know these policies are out there.
Maybe a parent bought a small policy decades ago and never mentioned it. Or an aunt listed you as a beneficiary on a work policy you never heard about. These situations happen more often than you’d think, and there are free tools to help you search.
The NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners runs a free database that searches across participating insurance companies nationwide. It’s the most comprehensive tool available for finding lost policies.
Here’s how it works: You submit basic information about the deceased person (full name, Social Security number, date of birth, and date of death), and the system searches member companies’ records. If there’s a match, the insurance company contacts you directly.
What you’ll need:
- The deceased person’s full legal name
- Social Security number
- Date of birth and death
- Your contact information as the potential beneficiary
Visit NAIC.org’s Life Insurance Policy Locator Service. The search is completely free, though it can take several weeks to get results as companies review their records.
State Insurance Department Resources
Each state maintains its own insurance department that tracks unclaimed benefits. If someone lived in multiple states throughout their life, it’s worth checking each one.
Some states have more robust databases than others. California, New York, Texas, and Florida—because of their large populations—tend to have particularly detailed records. You can search by the deceased person’s name, and many states let you search online without needing to call.
Start with the state where the person lived when they died, then check states where they previously resided or worked.
MIB Group
The MIB Group (formerly Medical Information Bureau) helps locate policies through insurance companies’ underwriting records. While they don’t hold policy information directly, they can point you toward companies that may have issued policies to your loved one.
This service works best if the person applied for life insurance within the past seven years, as that’s how long MIB keeps records. It’s not foolproof, but it’s another free avenue worth exploring.
Employer and Union Records
Many people have life insurance through work and don’t think of it as a “real” policy. But employer-sponsored life insurance—even just a year or two of salary coverage—still pays out to beneficiaries.
Contact the HR department of any company where your loved one worked, especially their most recent employer. Union members should also reach out to their union’s benefits office, as many unions provide life insurance as part of membership.
Look Through Financial Records
Sometimes the simplest approach works best. Go through bank statements, checkbooks, and tax returns from the past few years. Look for:
- Regular premium payments to insurance companies
- Automatic withdrawals you don’t recognize
- Interest income from cash-value policies
- Any correspondence from insurance companies
Even finding a company name gives you a starting point. You can call them directly and ask if they have any policies on file.
Don’t Wait Too Long
While life insurance benefits don’t technically expire, companies may eventually turn over unclaimed funds to the state after several years. Once that happens, tracking them down becomes harder.
If you’ve recently lost a family member, spend an afternoon checking these resources. Even a modest $10,000 or $25,000 policy can make a real difference during a difficult time and it’s money that was intended for you all along.