Unclaimed Insurance Money
Insurance Companies are a source of unclaimed money for two primary reasons:
- Policies held by deceased persons are sometimes unknown to survivors and no death notice is provided to the insurance company
- Demutualization of "Mutual" insurance companies (see below)
In both cases, after the period of time prescribed by escheat law, if the rightful owner's current address or contact information is unknown, the money will be turned over to the state of record of the policy holder. However, if you have knowledge of or suspect the existence of such a policy you may wish to contact the insurance company directly.
Our Life Insurance Companies
page -
A list of insurance companies and their last known addresses and phone numbers
to help you research unclaimed insurance money.
NewYorkLife.com -
A database provided by New York Life allowing customers to search for unclaimed
insurance money.
Department of Veterans Affairs - Unclaimed Insurance Funds search page at the VA website.
Florida Department of Financial Services - List of insurance companies in Receivership (includes link to Receiverships in Other States) Liquidation of an insurance company may have financial consequences to policy holders.
Insurance Company Demutualization
Unclaimed money generated by demutualization is turned over to the state of record of "shareholders" if those "shareholders" could not be reached at the address on file. Note that demutualization has no effect on the actual insurance policy.What Is Demutualization?
"Demutualization" refers to a reorganization,
in which a mutual insurance company becomes a publicly owned company. The
method used is the payment of stock or cash to existing policyholders.
The process does not affect policies held by existing customers but may
generate "income" for these customers.
Under demutualization, shareholders own the new company. The stock
they hold may entitle them to vote and to receive dividends declared
on their shares.
Mutual companies usually seek to convert to a stock form of ownership
to raise capital and enhance the financial strength of the organization.
In the last twenty years more than 20 life insurance companies underwent
demutualization's.
Any mutual insurance company must undergo rigorous regulatory scrutiny and gain the approval to demutualize from the controlling governmental agencies.
If you were an owner of a policy from a company that underwent demutualization and you were eligible to receive stock or cash and the company could not find you, the proceeds would have been turned over to the the state unclaimed property department.