Legal Question in Insurance Law in New York

Re: Life Insurance Policy

Yes. You should immediately retain counsel to evaluate the insurance policy and the company's alleged reasons for not paying the face value of it. The insurance company and its agents have certain non-delegable duties.

My office would be willing to discuss the matter with you. 978.250.4255

Re: Life Insurance Policy

If they are claiming she defrauded the company, you will have to sue them. I would suggest you review your documents with an attorney first and take it from there.

Re: Life Insurance Policy

As others have posted, you may need to retain counsel. I have litigated against insurance companies from time to time and insurance companies will do everything possible to refuse payment on a claim. See how far you get on your own, but understand that an attorney may be necessary.

Re: Life Insurance Policy

Before you waste money on attorneys' fees, ask to see a copy of the insurance application. If your ex-wife did in fact mis-state her age on the application, then the company has a right to reduce benefits to the amount that would have pertained to a policy if she paid that premium and had correctly stated her age. They should provide you with the foillowing information: her medical rating, and the premium per thousand of coverage for a person of the correct age with that medical rating.

If they refuse to cooperate with you, then your second step (if you have the intestinal fortitude) is to go to the NYS Insurance Department. Their consumer webpage is at http://www.ins.state.ny.us/hpoffnos.htm. They can (and will) help you with no fee, especially if the insurer is a New York company or if they are not admitted in New York, if they sold the policy in or into New York.

If you get nowhere with this approach, THEN it is time to engage counsel. Just be mindful that your claim is relatively small in size, and attorneys' fees could easily swallow the whole recovery. If counsel offers you a contingent fee arrangement, make sure that he does not get a cut of the $37K that the company has offered: his cut should be calculated on the value he adds to the equation, not the value that is already there.

You might also check with your municipal department of services for seniors (which I assume you are) since most of them (Town of Hempstead, certainly does) have people who help out with precisely these sorts of questions. Remember, lawyers are not going to do this kind of work free of charge, and if you can resolve it with the help of the government offices that your taxes pay for, you will be that much ahead of the game.