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What happens when a life insurance claim is made

A death in the family means dealing with an insurer at the worst possible time. This sets out what the family has to do, in order, and what can slow a payment down.

Making a claim

What happens once the insurer is told?

A life insurance claim moves through the same broad stages for most policies: telling the insurer, sending the right documents, and sometimes an early payment before the rest of the claim is settled. Knowing what's asked for, and when, helps whoever is dealing with it after a death.

  1. Telling the insurer

    The first step is a phone call or online notification to the insurer, usually made by whoever is dealing with the policyholder's affairs. That's often the surviving spouse or partner, but it can be an executor, an administrator, or a trustee if the policy was written in trust.

    Having the policy number and the policyholder's details to hand speeds up the first call.

    Policy written in trust

    The trustee named on the trust deed contacts the insurer and deals with the claim on behalf of the beneficiaries.

    No trust in place

    Whoever is named as a beneficiary, or is handling the estate, contacts the insurer directly.

  2. Sending the documents

    The insurer sets out what it needs before it can look at the claim. A death certificate is the one document every insurer asks for, alongside the policy number and some form of identification from whoever is claiming.

    What's asked for can vary from one insurer to another, so it's worth confirming the list at the first call.

    Policy written in trust

    The trustee also sends the trust document, so the insurer can confirm who it's paying and under what authority.

    No trust in place

    The person claiming also shows their relationship to the policyholder, such as a marriage certificate, or their standing as executor.

  3. A funeral or immediate payment, where one is offered

    Some insurers release a smaller sum ahead of the main claim being settled, often called a funeral payment or an immediate payment. It means the family isn't left covering funeral costs while the rest of the claim is checked. This is usually paid once a death certificate has been produced, well before probate (the process that confirms who can deal with the estate), letters of administration (the same step where there's no will), or confirmation in Scotland (its equivalent there) is granted.

    Not every insurer offers this, and the amount it covers is set by the insurer rather than by the amount the policy pays out overall (the sum assured). Ask whether it applies to the policy you hold.

  4. The claim being checked and paid

    Once the documents are in, the insurer checks what's been submitted against what was declared when the policy was taken out. If everything matches, the claim moves to being paid to the person or people named as beneficiaries, or to the trustee if the policy sits in trust.

    This is also the stage where mismatches between the application and the claim can hold things up.

What's described here is the usual pattern. The policy documents, or a call to the insurer's claims team, will confirm what applies to the specific policy being claimed on.

How long does it take to get paid?

A claim paid into a trust and a claim paid straight to an estate can move at very different speeds, and the gap is not small. It is usually the single biggest reason a family waits weeks for the money.

Without a trust

Where a policy was never written in trust, the payout becomes part of the deceased's estate. In England and Wales the insurer normally waits for probate or letters of administration to be granted before releasing the funds, which is the court's confirmation of who has the legal right to deal with the estate. In Scotland the equivalent document is called confirmation, granted by the sheriff court, and the insurer waits for that instead. Either process can take some weeks, and the family has no way to speed it up from their side once the application is in.

With a trust

Where a policy was written in trust, the trustees named on the policy can claim directly. The payout sits outside the estate for this purpose, so the insurer does not need to see a grant of probate, letters of administration or confirmation before paying out. In practice this usually means the trustees can start the claim as soon as they have a death certificate and the insurer's claim form, without waiting on the courts at all.

Why the gap matters in practice

The weeks between a death and a grant of probate are exactly the weeks when a mortgage payment, household bills and funeral costs still need paying. A family relying on an estate payout has to find that money from somewhere else in the meantime, or wait. A family with a policy in trust is not working against the same clock.

Whether a trust is the right setup depends on things specific to the policyholder, including marital status and how the mortgage and household are arranged, and that decision is worked through in sequence on the main page for working out how much cover you need and how to set it up. Where the detail touches a specific family's tax position, that is a conversation for a solicitor or an FCA-authorised adviser.

Why would an insurer refuse to pay out?

An insurer sets the price of a policy, and decides whether to offer it at all, based on the answers given on the application. If those answers turn out to have been wrong or incomplete, the insurer can treat the policy as if it had never properly been agreed. This is called non-disclosure, and it's the main reason a claim doesn't get paid.

What counts as non-disclosure

Non-disclosure means something the insurer asked about, or would have wanted to know, wasn't declared at the time the policy was taken out. Common examples include a health condition that existed before the application, smoking that wasn't declared, a change in occupation to something riskier, or a hobby the application asked about and the reader didn't mention. It doesn't have to be about the eventual cause of death. An insurer can look at whether the original answers were accurate.

Innocent gaps versus deliberate ones

Not every gap is treated the same way. Where an answer was wrong because the applicant genuinely didn't know or didn't think it mattered, insurers generally handle that differently from an answer that was deliberately misleading. In most cases this affects what the insurer does about it. Either way, the starting point for the insurer is the same: compare what was declared against what should have been declared.

What's worth checking now

The application form and any medical or lifestyle questionnaire completed at the time are worth keeping somewhere the family can find them, alongside the policy documents. If anything has changed since the policy started, such as health, occupation or smoking status, it's worth checking with the insurer whether that needs to be reported. A policy can also be reviewed against what it was set up to cover using the cover amount and term calculator, which shows the shape of cover over time without submitting any details anywhere.

Questions about making a claim

Does the insurer contact my family, or do we have to contact them?

An insurer doesn't know someone has died until it's told. The next of kin, the executor named in the will, or the trustee if the policy was written in trust usually makes that call. Whoever contacts the insurer will need the policy number or the original documents to hand, and the claims team takes it from there.

What if the policy was never written in trust?

Without a trust, the payout forms part of the person's estate, so the insurer normally needs proof of who has the legal right to deal with that estate before it pays out. That proof is a grant of probate in England and Wales, or confirmation in Scotland, and both come from the courts. If there was no will, the person applying for that authority gets letters of administration. This step can add time to the process, which is one reason some people choose to write their policy in trust.

What counts as non-disclosure, and could it affect a claim?

Non-disclosure means information the insurer asked for at application that wasn't given, or wasn't given accurately, such as a health condition, a smoking habit, or an occupation that affects risk. When a claim is made, the insurer can check what was declared against medical and other records. If something relevant was missed or misstated, the insurer can query the claim or decline to pay, depending on how material the information was and the circumstances in which it was left out. This is usually named as the main reason claims are refused, so it's worth checking the original application against what you know now.

How can I find out whether a policy was written in trust?

The original policy documents usually show whether a trust form was completed when the policy began, and the insurer can confirm it over the phone once given the policy number. Where a trust is in place, there will be named trustees who hold the right to make the claim. Checking this before anything happens is easier than working it out afterwards, but if you're dealing with a claim now, the insurer's claims team can still tell you either way.