Florida Life Insurance Dispute
If you have a Florida life insurance dispute and need a life insurance attorney, call a life insurance attorney at the Law Offices of Jason Turchin today at 954-838-5640 for a free consultation, or submit your case information or question online. According to some statistics, around 60 percent of people in Florida have life insurance. Most Floridians are paying for a life insurance policy to make sure that their close ones will maintain the same lifestyle and won’t have to deal with financial problems in case they pass away. However, there are situations when purchasing life insurance doesn’t bring any benefits to the dependents. We are talking about a life insurance claim denial.
What is a life insurance claim denial?
The following is a list of common reasons why certain life insurance claims in Florida are denied:
[A] Material Misrepresentation
[B] Non-Payment of Premiums
[C] Policy Exclusion
[D] Claim Dispute
Insurance companies will often try to look for a reason not to pay a claim whenever possible. However, a life insurance claim representative may make a mistake on a payable claim. Sometimes there are legitimate disputes or discrepencies which may require a judge or jury to decide who is right. Just because your claim was denied does not always mean it was correct. Our life insurance lawyers have handled hundreds of denied life insurance claims and can evaluate your case at no initial charge to see if you might have a claim.
Short time frame
It is not unusual for insurance companies to reject a claim because the time between the moment when the insurance policy was issued by the company and when the holder died is simply too short. In most cases, these insurance plans have a certain period of time that should pass in order to use the benefits. There are cases when this time is not stated, but insurance companies still reject the claim. Most life insurance policies have a two year contestability period. This means that if the insured dies within two years of the policy becoming effective, the life insurance company may investigate the claim to see if there are material misrepresentations on the policy or reasons to try and deny the claim.
Partial disclosure
Another common reason for a life insurance claim denial in Florida is partial disclosure. If the policyholder has skipped some basic information that explains their situation, the insurance company may reject the claim. Avoiding informing the company about an obvious health issue is one example of a situation like this.
While we are talking about partial disclosure, it is worth mentioning that there is an incontestability clause in most life insurance policies in Florida. This clause forces the insurance company after some period of time (typically two years) to pay the promised amount of money. In other words, after this period of time, they can’t contest the policy because they believe it was obtained by concealment or misrepresentation.
Florida law also has exceptions where a policy may still get paid even where there was a misrepresentation. Generally, the misrepresentation must also be material in order for the insurance company to deny the benefits.
Skipping premiums
In order to make sure that your family and dependents will get a payment when you are not alive, you must pay the premiums on a regular basis. If you are skipping these payments, the insurance company may reject the claim. Sometimes the insurance company is required to send you a reminder notice before they are allowed to cancel the policy.
Suspicious death circumstances
An insurance company can reject a payout in case they believe that the death of the policy owner is suspicious. For example, in case they believe that the death is caused by a suicide, they may not pay anything to the beneficiary. Some policies limit a suicide clause to two years, which means they still have to pay if the suicide was more than two years after the insurance policy took effect. Some policies are accident-only policies, which means the death had to be caused by an accident in order to get the benefits.
Processing a disputed life insurance claim in Florida
In most cases, life insurance benefits are collected after the death of the insured person. However, in order to get these benefits, the beneficiaries must generally file a death claim and deliver a certified copy of the death certificate. After that, they will review the claim and should pay the claim within 30 days, or may ask for more information or reject it.
What to do in case your life insurance claim in Florida is denied?
In cases like this, it is the best idea to call an experienced Florida life insurance attorney. The Law Offices of Jason Turchin can help fight to get you the benefits you deserve. As Florida life insurance claim denial attorneys, we can help fight for you in any case related to life insurance. Feel free to call us at 800-337-7755 for a free consultation!