Can a life insurance policy be cancelled without notice?

by meggieyoung2k8 » Thu May 08, 2014 08:50 pm

USAA cancelled my ex-husband's life insurance policy without notifying me. I had power of attorney of the policy and was the beneficiary along with my two children. We had the policy for 20+ years and the policy was cancelled for non payment and my ex had passed away. Any thoughts??

Total Comments: 9

Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 04:19 pm Post Subject:

You asked this question in a different post. The answer is that the insurance company has no responsibility to notify anyone other than the policyowner of an impending lapse . . . unless the owner has requested duplicate notices to someone else, or a person with legal rights to the contract has previously notified the insurance company of his/her rights. I don't believe you did that. Can you fight this? Perhaps. It will not be easy or inexpensive.

Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 01:33 am Post Subject:

With hindsight being 20/20:
if you had been making the premium payments to USAA, the policy would have remained in force.
I've seen many cases where an ex-wife will do something to tick-off an ex-husband and his attitude will be something like, "See if that bi$%# gets any money from me."
I'M NOT IMPLYING THIS HAPPENED TO YOU - just that it happens too often.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 06:56 am Post Subject:

MaxHerr is completely right. I agree with him. If the policy owner has a natural and sudden death, then company has no responsibility to inform you for breaking the policy.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 05:15 pm Post Subject:

If the policy owner has a natural and sudden death, then company has no responsibility to inform you for breaking the policy.

I did not make this statement. I would never make such a statement.

The OP's question concerned notification of a beneficiary of the lapse of a policy, and had nothing to do with the death of the insured.

On the other hand, insurance companies now have a tacit agreement (several following major fines and monetary settlements) with state regulators to actively seek out life insurance policy beneficiaries following the known death of an insured.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 08:07 pm Post Subject:

MaxHerr is completely right. I agree with him. If the policy owner has a natural and sudden death, then company has no responsibility to inform you for breaking the policy.



I saw that too and thought, Max would never say something like that.

Then, as big as Christmas, there it was:

"I did not make this statement. I would never make such a statement."



It just can't be that easy - or can it? I love contract law.

MaxHerr is completely right <period> I agree with him <period>

Then, he decided to write the following.

"If the policy owner has a natural and sudden death, then company has no responsibility to inform you for breaking the policy.

"

In this context, he seems to be attempting to mislead the readers into thinking this is something Max stated - when it clearly wasn't.

The writer simply acknowledged that he believed Max was right, and that he agreed with what Max wrote<period>

Then he decided to write some other garbage and hoped Max would take credit for it. Of course, Max declined to do so.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:22 am Post Subject:

A Life Insurance company can cancel any policy in three conditions-
1.Failure to pay insurance premiums.
2.Driver’s license revocation or suspension.
3.Fraud, or serious misrepresentation on your application.
I suggest you to talk with a lawyer about it. And check proper reason for the cancellation of your policy.

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 01:04 pm Post Subject:

2.DriverÂ’s license revocation or suspension.


Why is this grounds to terminate a policy? You are 100% incorrect. As to "fraud, or serious misrepresentation," this varies according to state law. In California, for example, the word "fraud" is absent from the law concerning life insurance but not disability insurance. And in all states, the term is "material misrepresentation" not "serious".

Misrepresentation must be discovered within the contestability period (usually 2 years), otherwise it cannot be used to terminate a policy.

In this case, I have been in contact with the OP, and there is no fraud or misrepresentation. There may be a serious case of insurance company bad faith, but there may also be a statute of limitations problem, too.

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 07:43 am Post Subject:

A Life Insurance company can cancel any policy in three conditions-


1.Failure to pay insurance premiums.


2.DriverÂ’s license revocation or suspension.


3.Fraud, or serious misrepresentation on your application.


I suggest you to talk with a lawyer about it. And check proper reason for the cancellation of your policy.



DavidMayo:

I agree with you on this but, I need a little clarification.

1. Failure to pay insurance premiums.

Okay, that sounds good

2.DriverÂ’s license revocation or suspension.

Help me out with this one: If a driver has his license revoked or suspended, they can cancel his life insurance policy? In which states have they written this one into the code?

3.Fraud, or serious misrepresentation on your application.

Please help me out with the difference between regular ol' misrepresentation and serious misrepresentation. If no claim was filed, how in the world would a company know fraud, or serious misrepresentation occurred?

In my business, it is usually the agent who commits the fraud or serious misrepresentation. The policy owners don't usually discover this until it's too late - and they lose everything.

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:43 pm Post Subject: Husband passed away

If your husband died before the policy was cancelled for non-payment, you are still entitled to the death benefit. Please feel free to contact me for a legal consultation at no charge.


_____________________________
Law practice exclusively dedicated to life insurance issues

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