Filing claims for life insurance policy plans is not rocket science; the process does require time, effort, and patience, though. While there are several types of life insurance policies, the claims process also varies for each of them. Nominees of policyholders claim death benefits upon the former’s demise within the policy tenure. At the same time, there are maturity claims in life insurance, where the insurance companies pay out an amount after the policy period. The claim procedure may differ, as mentioned earlier. Here is a guide to the general process, which you’ll find in place almost everywhere, with slight tweaks or additions.
Life Insurance Maturity Claims- How to File
Here are some of the steps for filling life insurance claims at the time of maturity:
- Policy Release Form – You should obtain this at least a month before the policy maturity and fill it up accordingly. The insurance company will help you understand more about the necessary documents to be submitted with the form in question.
- You will have to fill up the form and attach all supporting documents. You will have two witnesses to sign the form as per requirements while proving your age and identity and providing the policy documents.
- You will have to dispatch the form and the necessary documents to the insurance company while awaiting the processing from their end. The request will require some time to process, and you should send it one week before the policy expiration date.
- Your insurance company will verify all necessary information for initiating the claim, and once the claim undergoes processing, you will get the maturity amount likewise
Now that you have an idea about the maturity claim filing procedure, you can get some input on filling death claims accordingly.
Death Claims – How to File
Here are the steps for filing death claims:
- You should first report the death to the insurer about the policyholder’s demise
- You should attach documents like the death claim form, original policy document, death certificate of the insured issued by a local municipal authority, death claim form, address and identity proof, copy of the bank passbook of the nominee or cancelled cheque for the bank details, and more
- The necessary documents for death due to medical reasons include the physician’s statement, employer’s/college/school certificate, treating hospital’s certificate, and other/hospital treatment records
- For accidental death, you may require either the post-mortem report or the FIR or the report of the police investigation
- All documents should be attested, and the eligible persons to do the same include the following:
- Company employee, agent, and relationship manager
- Branch manager of distributing banks for insurance policies
- Gazetted officer, principal of a Government school, or headmaster
- Bank manager of a nationalized bank with a suitable stamp
- Magistrate
You should ensure that you abide by all the regulations issued by the insurer for submitting claims. At the same time, you should also provide additional documents if the insurer asks for them. You may follow up on the claim processing status periodically. Work or business days are between Monday and Friday. In many cases, claims usually obtained before 3 PM on these working days will be processed on the next working day for applicable policies. However, claims received after this time may be processed after another extra day.
You must submit all your claim documents and filled-up forms to the nearest insurance company office or branch. Yet, the formal registration may only take place once the written request is sent to the insurer’s claim office. You can take help from your financial advisor or an expert on filling and submitting claims to the insurance company. Ensure you avoid errors in your claim form and provide proper documents since they will all be verified by the insurer.
