The largest non-government holder of unclaimed money are Life Insurance companies. Almost 30% of all life insurance benefits in excess of $500,000,000 go unpaid or unclaimed upon the death of the policyholder. Family members don't notify the insurance company simply because they not aware the deceased person might have had more than one policy. As a result, life insurance companies become separated from their policyholders and the beneficiaries- usually because they have not been notified of name or address change.

Also many states do not presume abandonment of life insurance policies until the insured policyholder would have reached the age of over 100 years. As a result, this type of unclaimed assets may not show up in a government database for some time. It is the responsibility of the beneficiary to contact the life insurance company and there is no central database to search such. Also, mattering on the type of policy - whole life or term policy, there could be a residual value even if the policy was cancelled or not paid-up.

Another source of unclaimed money or assets with life insurance companies has been the recent demutualization of some of the largest insurance companies. Demutualization refers to a reorganization in which a mutual insurance company becomes a stock company. This is accomplished through the payment of stock or cash to the policyholders upon the discontinuation of the mutual company. This reorganization has no impact on the actual life insurance policy.

After demutualization, shareholders of common stock own the new company and entitles them to vote at shareholder meetings and to dividends declared on their shares. The new shares are listed on a major stock exchange. This provides for the potential to raise capital by having new investors buy the stock while providing a market for the policyholders to sell their shares.

The amount due each policyholder is based on a number of factors, including length of time the policy has been in force, face value of their policy, and total premiums paid. For many policyholders, this windfall arising from demutualization can be substantial, and the financial benefits continue after the company demutualizes.

Between 1985 and 2004, more than 20 major insurance companies went through demutualization. Unfortunately, millions of policyholders current addresses were not known by these major insurance companies and the policyholders were not informed that they now owned stock in a new company in addition to their actual life insurance policy.

If you or a deceased relative had a life insurance policy with any of the below companies, you may be entitled to either stock and cash dividends as well as the proceeds of the policy itself. If the policyholder cannot be found, the demutualization proceeds are turned over to a government trust after the statutory period which varies from state to state (but normally a one to three year period) has passed. There is no time limit by which these proceeds can be recovered, however it is possible the stock could be sold by the government custodian and any appreciation or dividends after time of sale would be lost.

If you believe a deceased relative had a policy and payment has not been received or had a policy with a life insurance company which demutualized initiate an unclaimed asset search and contact the life insurance company directly. For a search in our databases and other information on how to recover unclaimed life insurance policies order our Search and Report. (There is $17 fee for this Service.)

Name and State Residence of Policyholder
Name of Beneficiary
State Residence of Beneficiary
Email address to send Search and Report