by Grant » Mon Dec 15, 2008 08:25 pm
my grandmother died in 2001 and left me and my family insurance policies. she was married but due to the circumstances of her marriage she didnt leave her husband (my step grandfather; not blood) anything. to this day he has all of the insurance policies locked up and says no one is getting anything until he dies, even though his name isnt on anything. she left me money for college, and i am now 18 years old and ready to go to college. I live in San Diego, CA. and none of us no what company the insurance policies are from. what are my rights? what must i do to get the policies that i am entitled to?? i really need the money and he is not willing to give the policies up, even after 7 years..PLEASE HELP ME!!! THANX. --DG
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 08:53 am Post Subject:
First of all, we definitely aren't insensitive to anyone's situation. So, when you first mentioned that your parents hadn't taken any initiative to pursue the claim, we had no intention to criticize someone, rather we were just trying to find out the reason why it wasn't done, because in almost all situations the beneficiaries don't wait long to file their death benefit claims with the insurance companies . Hence, your situation was quite out of the line. None of us were expecting a minor to file claims, whatsoever but these small issues can actually affect the whole situation.
However, your step grandfather can't legally keep the policy documents from you. IMO you need to seek the help of the law enforcement authority to recover those.
Another point, do you know the insurance agent of your grandmother? Or, her legal advisor? What about your grandma's will?
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:39 pm Post Subject:
Does your mother remember the name of the insurance company that she 'did' get paid by? what about the name of the company that had the policy that he sued the uncle for? i'd start there and find out if those company's have an active policy...you're only problem at this point is finding out who the carrier(s) is...and no there isn't just one big site that lists this...there is (i think) a site that you can pay to have it researched and I think you would fit the criteria, gary, or ins. teacher or investigator i'm sure know the name of the site, I'm sorry I dont' remember it.
Personally I'd get an attorney but, the only problem is, what has kept him from burning them? in fact he likely has in a fit of anger, if he's the mean old man you make him out to be...why else would he say no body get's them till he's dead? They are of no benefit to him, unless of course he's found a way to forge them too, which frankly wouldn't be that big of a trick...why was he not charged on the other forgery by the way?
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 04:44 pm Post Subject: my stepgrandfather is keeping policies....
Lori, i had a legal advisor send him a legal letter demanding that he mail us the policies and that he has ten days to do so, we are on day 5 and havent gotten anything yet...good point, there is a possibilty that he could have burned them, if thats the case then what do i do?? all i know is that theyre out there and he told us that he did have them and no one was getting anything until he died. personally, i think hes holding them bcuz he knows hes not getting any of the money and he is a very money hungry person so he never wants to see us with the money he wants. again him and my mother never got along and my grandmother many times chose him over her. but at the end do to the circumstances of their marriage, she left him NOTHING but debts and bills, and let everyone else a lot. i really think that is the motive behind it all bcuz when he dies and we get it he obviously wont have to see it. my grandmother had MANY different insurance companies (for what reasons i dont know) and she paid on them til the day she died. the insurance company my mother and uncle dealt with was prudential, and i already called them and were told there were no active policies. (and it took being on the phone with them about 1 hour just for them to even figure that out). i dont know why he hasnt surrendered the policies yet, honestly we are a little nervous bcuz he is an ex marine and has done some pretty cruel things in the past over money, so if he is still the same person we dont know what he might try to do now out of anger. (that is another reason why she didnt want to pursue anything by the way...)
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 04:50 pm Post Subject: my stepgrandfather...
my grandmother was only 49 when she died...and about the will, he made her get rid of her will at the last minute when she wasnt in her right mind, bcuz she listed everything to us (or them..my mother, uncle ect). so theres no will and my mother doesnt know the name of any other insurance company she may be with. is it possible that we could have someone go to search the house for them or something?? he still lives in the same house they did when she died...
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 06:22 pm Post Subject:
Sure if you want to take the chance of getting caught and brought up on breaking and entering charges. Thats a option you would have to weigh on your own. Either way...good luck.
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:44 pm Post Subject:
Garyspicuzza (sp) thank you for your answer, it was the most helpful one.
You're welcome, Grant.
If that life insurance policy was in-force on the day your Grandma died, even though 7 years have past, they will pay you the death benefit and step-grand-pops will have lots of "splainin" to do, if you know what I mean.
Contact the local law school in your area. They usually have programs for soon to be law school graduates to work on cases for free under the supervision of experienced lawyers.
They'd love a case like yours. Lots of intrigue, sub-plots and legal issues.
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 04:40 am Post Subject:
"the insurance company my mother and uncle dealt with was prudential, and i already called them and were told there were no active policies"
We can see some light in this matter. So Prudential has some records about the insurance policies Grant's grandmother bought from them even though the policies are not active.
Chances are Pridential may have in Grant's grandmother policies names of other insurance companies that Grant's grandmother purchased from.
Some insurance companies may request the insurance applicants to detail all existing policies they have with the same or different companies at the time of application for new policies.
This may save the trouble of going to every insurance company to check if anyone of them has Grant's grandmother's policies.
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 07:44 am Post Subject: xoseph
thanx! thats a pretty good idea! only, it was hard enough to get them to give me the info on the non active policies....how do i get them to tell me the name of the other insurance companies on file??
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 02:18 am Post Subject:
You may like to let them know that your grandmother is no longer around and it is important for you, being a beneficiary, to notify other insurance companies and file claims.
What you need from Prudential is the name of other insurance companies your grandmother purchased insurance from. If possible, yuo may also request for the name of the agent who sold your grandmother insurance. The agent may have other information you need.
By the way, did Prudential explain the meaning of non active policies? Are these policies still in force?
At the same time, no harm to ask a few insurance companies if they issued any insurance policies to your grandmother.
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 03:39 am Post Subject: insurance
GRANT:......you said your Grandfather ALREADY cashed in a few policies. However......( unless I mis-read the post..) you said you were Beneficieries on one or more of the policies. If you haven't seen the policies, then how do you know your name was on ANY of them? I'm not trying to 'make something' of this..I'm just wondering. Did a family member tell you this?did you find out from something written down?
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