Legal Question in Insurance Law in Michigan

life insurance policy

My father-in-law took a life insurance policy out on himself and then a couple months later discovered he had cancer. He died 4 months ago, and the insurance company is still ''investigating'' it and getting all his medical records. How long should this take and is there anything my mother-in-law can do in the meantime? She has NO income and is about to be foreclosed upon. HELP!


Asked on 5/11/07, 11:44 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Ari Berris The Berris Law Firm, P.C.

Re: life insurance policy

Unfortunately, nothing within the policy itself typically provides a time limit for investigation of a claim. The insurance companies keep that open as much as possible.

When an individual takes out a policy, a life insurance company has a two year discovery period for any misinformation, however, that is governed by statute.

Your mother-in-law may be left with no other option then to hire an attorney to put pressure and possibly file a lawsuit if the insurance company refuses or continues to delay payment of the insurance proceeds from the policy.

If I can be of any additional assistance please feel free to contact me directly. Good Luck.

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Answered on 5/11/07, 12:35 pm
Regina Mullen Legal Data Services, PLC

Re: life insurance policy

You can understand why the insurance company is skeptical. This is often what people do, and insurance policies have written provisions to prevent people buying insurance when they KNOW they're going to die.

The time frame is awfully close and he probably had to sign a statement that said he knew of no serious health problems...which is unlikely if he died 4 months later.

Get a lawyer and try to negotiate for payments to preclude the foreclosure, but don't count on it.

Doing it yourself is dangerous, because it will be emotional. Find out for yourself when the diagnosis was made and that will give you a good idea of what the insurance company is up to.

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Answered on 5/12/07, 3:52 pm


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