Do you suspect that a deceased loved one had a life insurance policy or annuity contract that you can’t locate? If so, the Attorney General’s Office may be able to help.
The Attorney General’s Insurance & Financial Services Division offers a free Missing Annuity & Life Insurance Search service to the families of deceased Massachusetts residents in order to help them locate lost or missing insurance policies and annuity contracts that were purchased in the Commonwealth. Executors, legal representatives, or members of the deceased person’s immediate family may file a search request with the Attorney General’s Office.
How the search process works:
- The Attorney General’s Office will forward the completed Missing Annuity & Life Insurance Search Request form and any attachments, along with the death certificate to major Massachusetts licensed life insurance companies.
- The Attorney General’s Office will ask the insurance companies to search their records to determine whether they have any Massachusetts in-force individual life insurance policies on the life of the deceased person or Massachusetts individual annuity contracts where the deceased person is an annuitant.
- The Attorney General’s Office will ask the insurance company to respond to the Attorney General’s inquiry if it has an in-force individual life insurance policy insuring the life of the deceased or any in-force individual annuity contract naming the deceased as an annuitant, provided that the requestor is authorized to receive this information.
- If the Attorney General’s Office finds a relevant in-force individual insurance policy or individual annuity contract, the Attorney General’s Office will contact you with the information, provided that you are authorized to receive this information.
- Please understand that federal and state privacy laws limit the persons to whom an insurance company can provide information about a policy or annuity. Therefore, unless you are a beneficiary or an authorized representative of the deceased, such as the executor of the deceased’s estate, you will not be contacted regarding a policy or contract that relates to your request. Please note that the insurer may ask for additional information to process a request.
In order to begin the search process, individuals should print and complete the form below. The completed form should be notarized and attached to a certified copy of the death certificate for the deceased individual for whom this search process is to take place. The form and associated materials should be mailed to the below listed address:
Missing Annuity & Life Insurance Search Service
Insurance & Financial Services Division
Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley
One Ashburton Place, 18th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Individuals should keep copies of everything for their records and are strongly discouraged from sending any original documents. Please note that it may take several months for the insurance companies to provide responsive information regarding a search request.
Consumers who have questions may contact the Attorney General’s Insurance & Financial Service Hotline at 1-888-830-6277.