If Your Life Insurance Claim Was Denied, We Need to Talk.
Okay, so you made a claim for life insurance benefits and the company sent you the dreaded denial letter. Now what? You have a few options: (1) give up; (2) appeal the denial on your own; or (3) get a life insurance lawyer to appeal your claim for you. Many people choose the first option because fighting with the insurance company is time consuming, stressful, and frustrating. However, take a moment to think about the insured person on the policy in question. How much money did they pay in premiums to keep the policy in force? They made the informed decision to name you as the beneficiary of the policy. They intended for you to have the life insurance benefits for a very specific reason. Giving up on a denied claim essentially gives the life insurance company money that they do not deserve.
Option two may seem like the most economical choice because you don’t have to pay for an attorney, and may be able to successfully overturn the denial. However, you have a limited number of appeals before the insurance company stops reviewing your letters. If you are not legally trained AND experienced in life insurance law, you will quickly find that you’re in over your head and your appeal letter will quickly turn into a stream of consciousness about the injustice of your situation. As we all know, insurance companies do not have feelings and as a result, your pleas will fall on deaf ears. Instead, you will have exhausted your appeals, wasted significant time and effort, and likely suffered even more stress and frustration.
Option three is your best course of action after your life insurance claim is denied for three main reasons. First, you pay nothing out of pocket. An insurance denial lawyer will work on a contingency basis, which means that they only get paid if your claim is approved at least partially. The attorney will be compensated using a percentage of the money paid out by the insurance company. If your claim is not successfully overturned, the attorney does not get paid whatsoever and you are no worse off than you were to begin with.
Second, an attorney with experience appealing denied life insurance claims has intimate knowledge about the claims process, and how life insurance companies evaluate claims. They will be able to use that knowledge to give you an advantage that you wouldn’t otherwise have in getting your denial overturned. Additionally, a life insurance attorney will be able to thoroughly research the law as it pertains to your specific issue to determine how courts have handled similar issues in the past. This will allow them to make a strong argument for why the insurance company should issue payment on the claim rather than risking going to court.
Third, and possibly the most important reason why you should get a life insurance attorney, is that your problem is now your attorney’s problem instead. A good attorney will handle all of those frustrating follow-up calls, collecting the absurd number of documents requested by the company, researching and writing the appeal letter, and arguing with customer service representatives. In essence, your job is to sit back and wait for your check to come. You have absolutely nothing to lose.
