Wayanad landslides: Deaths of both the insured and their nominees may hit disbursal of life insurance premium

Tragic landslides in Wayanad leave life insurance policy holders and nominees deceased, complicating claims for legal heirs.

Death has played a woeful game with the lives of a few life insurance policy holders in Wayanad as some of them and their nominees perished in the landslides.

The tragic tale of the residents who had insured their lives against any such possible accidents unfolded when officials of the Kalpetta branch of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) scrutinised the list of its customers.

“It was found that the insured and their nominees were dead in as many as five cases. It is not quite common that the insured as well as the nominees are dead before the policy matures. The landslide took away the beneficiaries in these cases,” said a senior LIC official.

On maturity of the policy, the policyholders or, in the event of the policyholder’s death, their nominees will be eligible for the sum assured and the bonus accrued over the years. If the policyholders and their nominees are dead, the policy amount would go to Class One or Two legal heirs. The Class One legal heirs include the spouse or the close relatives of the deceased policyholder and the Class Two, the other family members.

The Class Two legal heirs will be decided by the caste and the succession laws applicable for the insured succession and it will be different for different for different religions, explained another official of the public sector insurance behemoth.

Also read: LIC, HDFC Life to expedite Wayanad landslide claims process 

Claiming the insurance amount would not be an easy task for the legal heirs as all the legal heirs should come forward to sign an affidavit stating their willingness to permit one person to receive the money, which could be a time-consuming and tedious process. The legal heirs may sign the affidavit nominating a person to receive the money after arriving at a consensus on the utilisation of the amount. The corporation will keep the claim option open for them and keep the account active in its books until the relatives come forward to claim the amount, said the official.