Life Insurance

Life Insurance – Areas Of Dispute

October 22, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

People in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, Weatherford, Irving, Carrollton, and other places in Texas usually find out the hard way about areas of dispute in their insurance policies. Below is some information to be aware of.

Life insurance coverage is fairly straightforward. If the insured person dies during the policy term, the insurance company pays the benefits. The following are some ways that disputes may arise:

1) An agent may misrepresent the benefits of his insurance company’s policy to induce the insured to switch from another company. See Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.061.

Types Of Life Insurance In Texas

October 19, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

What types of insurance are available to people in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Cleburne, Weatherford, Granbury, or other places in Texas? The answer is the same where ever a person may live in Texas.

Common life insurance types are term, whole life, and universal life.

“Term” policies simply provide a death benefit in return for a premium payment. At the end of the policy year, or “term,” the insurance ends, and the policy has no value. Term policies do not accrue cash value. Because the insured is only paying for the death benefit, term policies are cheaper in the early years. As the insured gets older, the risk of death increases and so does the premium, so term may become more expensive than the other types. Insurance companies typically sell term policies that promise a fixed premium for a set number of years. For example, an insurer may sell a 10 year term policy that the insured may purchase and renew for the same annual premium during those years, without having to re-qualify.

Life Insurance Policies And Dead Soldiers … Sad

September 16, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Parents and spouses of military members in Arlington, Garland, Mesquite, Irving, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lake Worth, Colleyville, and through-out Texas would find the way some life insurance companies conduct their bussiness to be disgusting.

The New York Times published an article on August 29, 2010. The article was written by Dan Frosch and is titled “Families of Dead Soldiers Sue Insurer Over Its Handling of Survivors’ Benefits.”

The article starts out telling the reader about Vicke Castro. Her only child, Jonathan Castro, was killed six years ago just before Christmas, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside an Army mess tent in Mosul, Iraq.

Life Insurance Claims And Payments

August 26, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Life insurance is something most people in Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Weatherford, and other places in Texas pay for each month. Of course, the reason it is purchased is to help in a financial way those left behind. Those left behind are spouses and children nine times out of ten.

The amount of money tied up in life insurance policies nationwide is staggering. Insurance companies make lots of money on the premiums paid to them for the policies and most people understand and accept that. What bothers people is when the life insurance companies continue making money after a claim is made and that money is made at the expense of the beneficiaries of the life insurance policies.

Bloomberg ran an article on this topic on August 16, 2010. The authors are David Evans and Hui-yong Yu. The title of the article is, “U.S. Insurance Regulators Issue Consumer Alert on Death Benefits.”The article tells us that State insurance regulators, under pressure to improve disclosure of death benefit payment options, issued a consumer alert about the industry practice of retaining funds rather than paying them in a lump sum.

Life Insurance Denial

August 12, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

A terrible thing for someone in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Mansfield, Dallas, Fort Worth, Bedford, Euless, or anywhere else in the metroplex is having a loved one die. Then, when the claim for life insurance benefits is made, the live insurance company denies the claim for benefits.

This happens on a daily basis across the country. The New York Daily News recently published an article about this happening to a Long Island family. The Daily News staff writer is, John Marzulli. The title of the article is, “Lawsuit seeks to prevent Jeffrey Locker’s family from collecting life insurance after bizarre death.”

The article tells us that the family of a Long Island motivational speaker who police say set up his own murder should not collect $4 million in life insurance because he lied about his income. That is the defense in a federal lawsuit filed by the family.

Life Insurance Policies In Texas

August 3, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

What do people in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Azle, Irving, Burleson, Mansfield, Duncanville, and other cities in Texas know about life insurance? Answer: not much, except what it costs each time they make a payment.

Life insurance in Texas is regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance. Laws governing life insurance can be found in the Texas Insurance Code. Insurance Law Attorneys can answer a lot of questions whenever someone thinks they are not being treated properly by their agent or the insurance company.

Life insurance policies, by law, must contain several prescribed provisions. This is stated in Section 1101.002(a) of the Insurance Code. The exception to this statute is a single premium life insurance policy. This is stated in Section 1101.002(b), but these single premium policies are not seen very often and the vast majority of people do not have these types of policies.

Life Insurance Policy Lapse In Texas

February 13, 2010 | Mark S. Humphreys

Most people think that the idea of life insurance is good. It shows you are thinking of the people in your life who are left behind. Sometimes, life insurance is purchased for business reasons. People who live in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Weatherford, or a big metropolitan area such as Dallas and Fort Worth are all going to consider life insurance at some point in their lives.

What happens when the idea of purchasing life insurance becomes a reality and after having bought the coverage, payments are missed? The Texas Court of Civil Appeals in San Antonio, decided this issue in 1962, and their decision is still good law for this question.

Merced Cantu et ux., v. Southern Life & Health Insurance Company, is a case that says, “It is not necessary for the insurance company to advise policy holders that their policy has lapsed”. In this case, the Cantu’s had a life insurance policy on their son. The son died and the Cantu’s made a claim for benefits from Southern Life & Heath Insurance Company. Southern denied the claim stating that the policy had lapsed for non-payment of premiums.

Good Health Requirement For Life Insurance Policy

November 17, 2009 | Mark S. Humphreys

A person who buys a life insurance policy in Dallas, Texas, or in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Fort Worth or out in Weatherford in Parker County should have the same concern as everyone else when they purchase the policy. Is this policy going to pay benefits to the benficiary named in the policy? After all, that is the only reason it is being purchased.

A Federal Court case decided in 2007, gives good reason for looking over the policy and reading it well before purchasing it. The case, Assurity Life Insurance Company v. Grogan, was presented with the following policy condition: The policy coverage did not go into effect until the “first full premium was paid during the Proposed Insured’s lifetime and continued good health.”

Soon after purchashing the policy, the insured had a biopsy performed on a lump on his neck and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He died a few months later from complications.

Life Insurance Policies, Interpretation, and ERISA

September 11, 2009 | Mark S. Humphreys

A United States Federal District Court in Texas recently discussed the above in a case. The life insurance policy was for $200,000. The policy was provided through a voluntary plan the beneficiary of the policy had with his employer and was an ERISA plan. ERISA stands for Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The case was Carmichael Khan v American International Group, Inc.

Like many people in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding cities and counties Khan was a voluntary participant in a plan provided by his employer. The facts and issues in the case centered around Khans’ employment terminating around April 7, 2006 and his wife having died in a car wreck on April 20, 2006. There were issues about termination paperwork Khan had filled out prior to his termination and his intent to covert coverage he had through his employer to continuing coverage once he left American. Also, there were issues about deductions from Khans last pay check for coverage. The fact pattern is long and the legal battle is also long and complicated. In the end the Federal Court ordered the case back to the Plan Administrator for further determinations to be made by the Plan Administrator. This case will likely continue over the next several months and possibly years unless a settlement is reached among the parties involved.

One of many things to be drawn from this case is that when a life insurance policy is in an ERISA plan, there is an administrative process that has to be exhausted before an appeal to a Federal Court can be fully litigated. All ERISA disputes are fought out in Federal Courts rather than State Court because ERISA issues are a matter of Federal Jurisdiction. Insurance companies prefer Federal Court for fighting their battles whereas attorneys who represent claimants prefer State Courts.
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