Insurance Claims - Death Benefits

Heya - I'm an insurance-processin' type.

Here's a little something:

https://www.greatergeorgialife.com

They're a nice carrier, and their site has an overview of the submitting process. You can also download a claim form and have a look. You might try asking life insurance carriers.

When you submit a claim form, you must also submit a certified copy of the death certificate.

(I'm afraid I have no experience with the investigation aspect - my guess would be that they'd look into anything that might be suspicious circumstances and/or people with high levels of coverage.)

Call the insurance carrier and notify of them of the deceased.

You must be a relative or a beneficiary or they won't talk to you.

You generally have to talk a claims person and start the claim.
You'll need, death certificate, will and any documents pertaining to the death, benefits, changes to policy.

Claims/Benefits Adjusters/Handlers will walk the familiy/beneficiary through everything and go over details of payout.

Adjusters can use their own judgement on who to investigate, usually if someone comes in unprepared or seems too nervous. If it takes too long to provide proof of death.
-If a Red Flag goes up.
They're going to go with Autopsy, Coroner's Report, Police Reports, ANYTHING they can possibly find they probably will, Inusrance Investigators are usually ex-FBI or Police Detectives or Ex-Coroners with PhDs and they're good at their job.
If the policy was for a lot of money they'll investigate no matter what, a lot being 1,000,000$ or over payout, they'll investigate like hell and even have Insurance Investigators staking out the funeral.

-per my girlfriend who is an insurance agent.

I've helped family members file claims on life insurance policies before and there was no investigation. There was a claim form in the packet from when they originally bought the policy. If there isn't one there you can call the company or pull one off the internet in most cases today. The beneficiary was named and still living, so the check was made out directly to them. All that was necessary in those cases was supplying a certified copy of the death certificate. (They will only accept a certified copy). You also have to return the original policy along with the claim.

In cases of accidental death, such as automobile accidents, you might find an insurance company checking local newspaper reports to be sure there was no foul play. Some policies pay double indemnity so they aren't going to willingly pay out if they don't have to.

I imagine if a person is shot or dies from something of that sort the insurance agency would investigate before paying a claim.

Also if coverage was purchased recently it might cause them to investigate.