Frank spent months browsing online life insurance quotes and finally bought a life policy. He passed away just shy of two years later. It took more than a year for his wife to collect his life insurance payout.

Doug had a 30-year term life policy and died the same day as Frank did. His wife was able to get her life insurance payout within two weeks.

How long does it take for a beneficiary to get a payout?

As the two scenarios illustrate, it depends. Some payouts can take as little as three to five days. If the insured dies within two years of purchasing the policy (called the two-year contestability period) as Frank did, it can take longer.

Barring any snafus, the average life insurance payout takes about 30 days to process.

How to File a Life Insurance Claim

Whether you are the sole beneficiary or one of several beneficiaries, you will have to file your own individual claim.

1. Locate the actual policy. The life policy will have the claim instructions as well as the insurer’s contact information. You can either call the insurer to have a claim form mailed or download it from the insurer’s website.

2. Gather Your Documents and Information. To fill out the form, you will need to have the following documents and information handy:

• the insured’s death certificate, either the original or a certified one obtained from the funeral home or the vital statistics office of the insured’s state of residence.
• the life insurance policy, with the policy number
• the date of death
• the cause of death
• the state in which the insured died
• the insured’s date of birth
• the insured’s social security number
• an obituary notice, not necessary, but may help move things along
• in some cases, the insurance company will ask for an autopsy report or medical records

3. Choose how you want your payout delivered. There are a few ways available to choose from.
   • a lump sum. This is tax free.
   • an annuity. This pays out a fixed amount over a specific time frame. The insurance company invests unused funds for you. However, any interest earned will be taxed.
   • a retained asset account. The insurance company keeps the payout in an interest-bearing account from which the beneficiary can withdraw funds. Interest on this account is also taxable.

4. Submit your claim according to the claim instructions.

Why Would an Insurance Claim Be Denied?

There are only a few reasons why a life insurance company would deny a claim.

Fraud. If the company suspects the insured died under questionable circumstances or lied to the insurance company, the company can deny the beneficiary the life insurance policy’s payout.

The insured died during the contestability period. Most policies and/or states have a provision that allows the insurance company two years to review an insurance policy for inconsistencies related to fraud.

If the insured dies during the contestability period, the beneficiary may be denied the life insurance payout. In Frank’s case, he died just short of the contestability period. His wife was able to collect, but it took longer and required more effort.

A lapsed policy. If the premiums have not been paid up at the time of the insured’s death the beneficiary will not receive the death benefit payout.

If your claim is denied, you can always reach out to the insurance company for clarification. Sometimes it’s just a matter of missing documentation such as an autopsy report or an insurance payment receipt.

Losing a loved one is difficult. Life insurance companies have worked to make the claims process as easy as possible. Once you’ve filed the claim, you can relax and know you are taken care of.

For the Best Life Insurance, Trust the System

If you’re over a certain age, you remember calling customer service and having a human answer the phone. We all know those interactions aren’t normal anymore. Automated technology is standard today.

And technology continues to evolve. For example, PolicyWand just adopted aggregator neural network technology in the form of Wandy, an avatar designed to provide initial customer services to online visitors in search of the best life insurance.

But AI can’t get inside your head. Wandy can only go so far to get you to a life insurance policy that will fit your lifestyle and your family’s needs. Yes, avatars like Wandy accelerate the process with upfront data gathering and quotes, but life insurance is personal. It deserves human interaction.

The best systems blend automation and human interaction.

Life Insurance Agents

The best thing to come from automated technology is that it’s encouraged life insurance agents to reevaluate their business approach. Why would anyone take time to drive to a storefront with a pushy life insurance salesperson inside when they can hop online from home?

Life insurance agents have had to adapt from being a salesperson to being an answers-person. When technology connects you to a live agent today, you’ve already received your quotes. There’s no more selling to do.

That’s good news.

But there are still plenty of questions. No two life insurance clients have identical medical or financial situations. Their questions are as unique as their needs. And most people prefer to speak with a person rather than a data-collecting avatar when discussing them.

Life insurance customers want a licensed life insurance agent with the knowledge and experience to identify the best products to meet their needs. If just anyone could answer your questions, the process would go faster. But quality takes time and specialized knowledge that doesn’t come from a call center.

So getting from an avatar to a licensed agent requires a wait, sometimes minutes and sometimes hours, depending on when your call comes in. Normal business-hours calls take minutes. A call that comes in after business hours will require a ticket for a returned call in the morning.

Providing exceptional service takes time. But think of it this way. If you must wait a few minutes, it’s probably because the life insurance agent you’re waiting to speak to is providing the best service they have to give. And if they’re committed to that kind of quality, they’ll extend the same to you when it’s your turn to discuss your life insurance needs.

You just have to trust the system.

If you’ve requested a quote from PolicyWand, you’ve no doubt met Wandy. And after interacting with our cool little guy, our customers have been asking for more information about it.

Aggregating the Life Insurance Neural Highway

Wandy is what’s called an insurance aggregator neural network—loaded with tons of life insurance data that enables it to take your information, match it with its existing data, and respond back with a tailored quote in real time.

While Wandy’s primary function is to provide quotes and answer life insurance questions, its intuitive technology makes it an apt problem-solver.

Each query interaction expands  Wandy’s fluid insurance knowledge. As the insurance market changes, the rates change. Wandy tracks all of it, flexing its AI skills to anticipate and respond more effectively to new customer queries. The more Wandy’s used, the smarter it gets.

Wandy is not only a great student, but also a great host. The smart little avatar guides guests through the entire life insurance buying process, from initial greeting to setting an appointment with a live agent.

If you need to leave the interaction before setting an appointment, Wandy will remember you when you return. And when it introduces you to a live agent, that agent is fully armed with a customized plan to identify the best policy at the best price without shuffling through files while you wait.

But Why  Call it Wandy?

Society has been using digital technology day in and day out for decades now. Our phones are now extensions of our bodies.

But stop and consider how much goes on inside your phone or computer in one nanosecond—or your body for that matter. It’s magic. Are there codes involved? Sure. But codes are the magic words. You still need someone to wield the wand.

Wandy’s our guy. We hope you get the chance to collaborate with it soon.