Know this before buying life insurance

While buying life insurance, everyone just discusses its features or how low its premium is, and in some cases, the maturity benefits that it offers. However, no one talks about how the family of the insured can initiate a claim and what exactly is the claim settlement process of life insurance. When you buy a life insurance policy, it is quite important to know its claim settlement process. Moreover, you should educate your family members regarding the same. Regarding your finances, be open with your family members as doing so will help them deal with the financial situation in your absence quite strongly. In this article, our effort would be to guide you in a step-by-step manner regarding the claim settlement process in life insurance. 

Step I: Intimate to the life insurance company 

In the event of the death of the insured, the first step that their nominee should do is to intimate the life insurance company about the same to initiate the claim settlement process. In order to do so, you need to fill the claim intimation form that is available with your nearest life insurance company branch or you can even download it from the life insurance company’s website. Following are the major details required to be provided to the life insurance company in the claim intimation form: 

- Policy number as mentioned in the policy document 

- Name of the life insured 

- Date of death 

- Cause of death 

- Place of death 

- Nominee’s name 

Step II: Essential documents 

To move ahead in the claim settlement process, the nominee would be asked to provide the following documents: 

- Death certificate 

- Age of the life insured 

- Original policy document 

- Any additional document required on a case-to-case basis. 

Further, if the insured lost his/her life in the early stage (claims that arise within three years of commencement of policy), the life insurance does a few extra checks in order to deem it as a genuine claim. Below we have listed a few checks that they might do: 

- In case the life insured was admitted to the hospital, the insurer would check with the hospital 

- In case of death due to an air crash, the insurer will check with the respective airline authorities to confirm whether the insured had boarded the flight 

- Moreover, if the death is due to some medical reason, then the insurer may ask you to submit some additional documents such as doctor’s certificate and treatment records. 

- If the death of the insured is due to an accident, murder, or suicide, then the insured would ask you to furnish an FIR report, post-mortem report, police verification certificate, etc. 

Note: In order to expedite the claim settlement process, the nominee needs to submit all the requested documents to the life insurer to the soonest. 

Step III: Settling the claim 

According to regulation 8 of IRDAI (Protection of policyholders’ interest) Regulations, 2002, on the receipt of all the necessary documents including the additional documents requested by the insurer, it is an obligation towards the insurer to settle the claim within 30 days. Moreover, if the claim demands further investigation, then any such investigation needs to be completed by the insurer within six months from the date of receipt of written intimation of the claim.