Making a Life Insurance Claim

When setting up life insurance, naturally people hope that a claim will never be needed. However in some cases it is – so we’ll take a quick look at the usual requirements a New Zealand life insurer has for assessing a life insurance claim.

First, there are several documents that the life insurer will need. We’ll take a brief look at each of these:

1. First, the insurer will need a copy of the deceased person’s Death Certificate. In some cases a Death Certificate will have been issued as “subject to Coroner’s findings”. If this is the case then the insurer would usually need to also receive a copy of these findings in order to assess the claim.

2. The life insurer will also ask that you provide them with a copy of the life insurance policy document. This will have been sent to you when you started your policy – and it’s important to keep this in a safe place. If you don’t have a copy of the document it will be OK (the insurer can generate another one for you) – however this could lead to delays in the assessment of the claim.

3. Finally, the insurer will require some form of proof of identity and age of the deceased person. If the insurer has already gathered this (for example during the application process) they should not require it again, however if this has not been previously provided the insurer will need to see it.

Also, in some cases, a life insurance or health insurance claim might be made because the insured person has not yet passed away, but is terminally ill. If this is the case, the insurer will need to see a letter from the insured person’s medical practitioner stating that the insured person is likely to die within 12 months (or whatever duration their policy specifies).