Although we dutifully pay our premiums month after month for years on end, there’s often an underlying worry that the insurance provider will discover a loophole to avoid paying what we are owed when our loved one passes away.
However, there is no devastation to match the denial of a life insurance claim, which can feel like salt being rubbed in an open wound for those already traumatized over the loss of a loved one.
The one-time lump-sum benefit payment due under a life insurance policy will never bring back the person who meant so much to you. Still, the money can ease the transition to your new life without them and help you minimize the economic hardship suffered on the way.
If your life insurance claim has been rejected, the experienced insurance denial lawyers at Edwards Pollard LLP can help you hold your insurer to account, ensuring that you get the benefits to which you are entitled.
What to do after a life insurance denial
The moment a denial letter arrives in the mailbox, your top priority should be to seek legal help. The faster you act, the better since the clock starts ticking on the deadline for filing a lawsuit as soon as you are notified.
With the help of an Edwards Pollard LLP life insurance denial lawyer, you can begin to think about fighting back and start gathering the health records and medical evidence that will be crucial to supporting your claim.
Life insurance companies deny claims for various reasons, but some of the most popular revolve around the manner of the policyholder’s death or whether the deceased misrepresented their health in the initial application.
For example, the insurer may suspect that the person died in a street race or during the commission of a crime — causes of death that are often excluded in a policy — or that they died as a result of a deliberately undisclosed health condition.
Things can get complicated when the policyholder dies by suicide. Although the terms of each life insurance policy may differ, insurers typically include a provision allowing them to deny a claim if the suicide happened in the first two years the policy was in effect.
Beyond this, coverage in the case of suicide will depend on the precise wording of your policy since some insurers pay out after the two-year period has passed, while others extend the exclusion indefinitely. Meanwhile, a third group of insurance companies occupy the middle ground, deciding coverage based on an assessment of the person’s known mental health history and state of mind at the time of their death.
What to expect if you file a legal claim
Whatever reason the insurance company gives for rejecting your claim, it’s important that you don’t accept their explanation at face value.
Life insurance policies are incredibly technical documents, and no layperson can be expected to conduct the type of contractual interpretation necessary to demonstrate that a denial was improper without the backing of an experienced life insurance denial lawyer like those at Edwards Pollard LLP.
If a thorough review of the policy at issue and the circumstances of the policyholder’s death indicate that a rejection was unjustified, the life insurance denial lawyers at Edwards Pollard LLP can then file a lawsuit on your behalf.
Our team brings a wealth of experience to the litigation process, allowing us to tailor our approach to a client’s individual needs and guiding them through every stage. We prepare for each case as if it will go to trial, but we are always alive to opportunities to reach a fair and reasonable settlement, which could arise at any point after the launch of a claim.
How we can help
The emotional turmoil that comes with the death of a loved one can make it challenging to muster the energy to fight a life insurance denial against an opponent as sophisticated and well-resourced as a major insurer.
However, an Edwards Pollard LLP life insurance denial lawyer levels the playing field, putting you in the best possible position to secure the benefits you deserve.
With several decades of experience between them obtaining outstanding results in battles with many of the leading providers, you can trust the life insurance denial lawyers at Edwards Pollard LLP to get on with advancing your claim while you focus on your own and your family’s wellbeing.
If your life insurance claim has been denied, call Oakville’s life insurance denial lawyers at Edwards Pollard LLP for a free consultation to find out if you have a case at (289) 529-0404.