Florida Announces Two Multi-Agency, Multi-State Life Claim Settlement Agreements Totaling More than $5.5 Million
Dec 17, 2015
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office), Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), and the Florida Office of the Attorney General (AG) today announced national life claim settlement agreements have been signed with Jackson National for $2.5 million and AXA for $3.28 million.
These settlement agreements focus on the one-sided use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) to stop paying a deceased person’s annuity, but not using the same information to find and begin paying the deceased’s family or other beneficiaries for life insurance policies.
In its fifth year, this multi-state national effort has resulted in the successful return of more than $5 billion in unknown or lost policy proceeds to beneficiaries directly by the companies and over $2.4 billion delivered to the states’ unclaimed property programs, which continue efforts to locate and pay beneficiaries
To date, state insurance regulators have either reached settlements or concluded the investigation of 22 of the top 40 companies constituting 73% of the total market. Efforts continue to be focused on the examination of the remaining 18 insurers.
Jackson National and AXA have agreed to compare all company records against the DMF to determine whether there are unclaimed death benefits, search for those beneficiaries, and otherwise remit unclaimed proceeds to the appropriate state authority. Florida’s allocation of the collective multi-state settlement payments by the two companies is $465,812, which covers the costs of the investigations and future compliance monitoring.
Established in 2011, the multi-state examination process is guided and coordinated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Life/Annuities Claim Settlement Practices Task Force, which is chaired by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty. Florida, along with California, North Dakota, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are lead states in the national investigations of life insurance company practices.
For more information, visit the Office’s “Life Claim Settlement Practices” webpage. To search or submit a request for unclaimed property, visit www.FLTreasureHunt.org, or call 1-88-VALUABLE or (850) 413-3089.