In short: Common causes of delay are a contestability review when the insured died within about two years of the policy's issue, an open question about the cause of death, missing documents, or a competing claim. State law often requires insurers to act within set timeframes and to pay interest on delayed proceeds. Employer plans under ERISA must decide claims within set periods, generally 90 days with one 90-day extension.
Why claims stall
Contestability reviews
This is the most common reason a life insurance claim sits for months. Most policies can be challenged for only a limited time after they are issued, usually two years. Texas, for example, requires that a policy in force for two years from its date of issue during the insured’s lifetime become incontestable except for nonpayment of premiums (Tex. Ins. Code § 1101.006), and Florida has a similar two-year rule (Fla. Stat. § 627.455). Group coverage and reinstated policies can follow different rules, so the clock is worth checking against the policy itself.
When the insured dies inside that window, the insurer usually opens a contestability review before it pays. It asks for an authorization, orders years of medical and pharmacy records, and compares them line by line with the answers on the application. Each request to a doctor or hospital can take weeks, and the insurer generally does not decide anything until the last record arrives. The review is also where an insurer looks for a reason to deny the claim or cancel the policy, so a long silence during this stage is not always a good sign.
What you can do: ask the insurer in writing to confirm that the claim is in a contestability review and to list every record it has requested and is still waiting on. Keep a copy of the application if you can get one, and note any doctor the insured saw before applying. Don’t guess at medical history in conversations with the insurer; let the records speak.
How we help: we track the outstanding requests, press the insurer for a decision once the file is complete, and review the application against the records ourselves. If the insurer claims the insured misstated something, we test whether the answer was actually wrong, whether the question was clear, and whether the fact would have changed the insurer’s decision to issue the policy. If the insurer moves to deny or rescind, we are already prepared to respond on the denial side.
Deaths outside the United States
When the insured dies abroad, the insurer has to verify the death with records it cannot easily check. It usually wants a foreign death certificate, often with a certified translation, plus police, hospital or autopsy reports from the country where the death occurred. Many insurers also ask for the Consular Report of Death that a U.S. consular officer prepares for a U.S. citizen who dies abroad, based on the local death certificate or finding of death (22 C.F.R. § 72.5).
These claims slow down because the records come through foreign agencies, embassies and translators, each on its own schedule. Some insurers also hire investigators to confirm the death in person, interview witnesses and check whether the person who died is the insured. A death in a country with limited record-keeping, or one involving an accident or a quick burial or cremation, tends to draw the closest review.
What you can do: gather every document you have from the country where the death happened, including the local death certificate, any police or medical reports, and burial or cremation papers, and ask the insurer exactly which documents it still needs and in what form. Ask the U.S. embassy or consulate for certified copies of the Consular Report of Death, and keep the names of the officials you dealt with.
How we help: we pin down what the insurer actually needs, work with families to obtain and translate the records, and push back when an investigation drags on without new questions. When an insurer’s demands go beyond what the policy requires, we hold it to the policy’s proof-of-death terms.
Homicide investigations
When the insured is killed, the insurer will usually wait for the police investigation to move forward before paying, especially if a beneficiary has not been cleared. Every state bars a person who intentionally and wrongfully kills the insured from collecting the benefit, by statute or court decision. In Texas, a beneficiary forfeits the proceeds if the beneficiary is a principal or an accomplice in wilfully bringing about the insured’s death (Tex. Ins. Code § 1103.151).
These delays can last the longest. Police and prosecutors rarely share their files while a case is open, charges can take months or years, and an insurer that pays the wrong person risks paying twice. If a beneficiary is a suspect, the insurer will often hold the money until the criminal case ends or ask a court to decide who should be paid through an interpleader lawsuit. The beneficiary disputes page explains how slayer claims are decided.
What you can do: ask the insurer whether it is waiting on law enforcement and, if so, what it needs to see before it pays. Ask the investigating agency whether it can provide a letter confirming that you are not a suspect. If you are a contingent beneficiary or another family member, ask the insurer whether anyone has been accused and how it intends to handle the claim.
How we help: we gather what the insurer can properly rely on, such as police statements, a clearance letter or the status of a criminal case, and use it to show that a beneficiary is not barred. When the insurer won’t pay until a court decides, we represent the claimant in the interpleader case and work to get the funds released without waiting on a criminal case that may never end in a verdict.
Documents that are hard to get
Some claims stall because a document the insurer needs is not easy for the family to get. Two come up most often.
Estate documents. When the beneficiary is the insured’s estate, or no living beneficiary was named, the insurer will pay only a person the court has appointed to represent the estate. That person needs letters of administration (or letters testamentary if there is a will), which means opening an estate, sometimes with a bond, notice to heirs and waiting periods. A family that did not expect to open an estate can lose months here.
Medical records. Insurers often need medical records for a contestability review or to confirm the cause of death, and providers can be slow to release them after a death. Federal privacy rules treat an executor, administrator or other person with legal authority over the estate as the decedent’s personal representative for health-record purposes (45 C.F.R. § 164.502(g)(4)). Without that authority, a family member may not be able to get the records the insurer is asking for.
What you can do: ask the insurer which documents it needs, from whom and in what form, and whether it will accept an alternative, such as a small-estate affidavit where the law allows one. If the insurer wants medical records, ask whether it will request them directly with an authorization rather than waiting for you to collect them.
How we help: we identify the fastest acceptable document for the claim, coordinate with the people who can sign or obtain it, and keep the insurer from adding new requests at the end. When an estate has to be opened, we explain the steps so the claim does not sit idle while the paperwork catches up.
Other causes of delay
The cause of death is not final. Insurers may wait for an amended death certificate, an autopsy or a toxicology report, especially where an exclusion or accidental death benefit depends on how the death occurred.
Competing claims. When more than one person claims the benefit, insurers generally will not pay anyone until the dispute is resolved. Texas law, for example, relieves an insurer of the duty to pay the designated beneficiary once it receives notice of an adverse claim from a person with a bona fide legal claim (Tex. Ins. Code § 1103.102). These claims often end in an interpleader lawsuit.
Simple inaction. Sometimes the file is just sitting. Follow-up in writing, with dates, builds a record that matters later.
Deadlines and interest
States regulate how quickly insurers must acknowledge, investigate and pay claims, and many require interest on proceeds that are paid late. The rules differ: some run interest from the date of death, others from the date of proof of loss, and some add penalties for unreasonable delay. In Texas, interest on life insurance proceeds accrues from the date the insurer receives due proof of loss until it accepts the claim and offers to pay (Tex. Ins. Code § 1103.104).
For employer plans governed by ERISA, the claims regulation generally requires a decision on a life insurance claim within 90 days, with one extension of up to 90 more days if the plan explains why it needs more time, and a decision on appeal within 60 days, with a possible 60-day extension (29 C.F.R. § 2560.503-1(f), (i)). If a plan fails to follow its claims procedures, a claimant may be treated as having exhausted the plan’s remedies and may go to court.
What you can do now
- Ask in writing what is outstanding, and ask for the specific reason for the delay.
- Keep a log of every call, letter and request, with dates and names.
- Send everything the insurer requests promptly, and keep copies.
- Ask whether any other claim has been made. If one has, the strategy changes.
- Talk to an attorney if the delay passes 60 days without a clear reason, or sooner if a contestability review or competing claim is involved.
We review delayed claims at no cost and can often tell quickly whether the problem is paperwork, an investigation, or a dispute that is heading to court.
Common questions
How long should a life insurance claim take?
Many uncomplicated claims are paid within 30 to 60 days after the insurer receives the death certificate and claim form. State laws set specific deadlines for acknowledging and deciding claims, and they vary.
Do I get interest if the payment is late?
Often, yes. Many states require insurers to pay interest on life insurance proceeds, commonly from the date of death or the date proof of loss was received. Texas, for example, requires interest from the date the insurer receives due proof of loss until it accepts the claim and offers to pay.
The insurer says someone else also claimed the policy. What now?
A competing claim usually means the insurer will not pay anyone until the claimants agree or a court decides, often through an interpleader lawsuit. Getting ahead of that process can save months.
Can I file a complaint with the state insurance department?
Yes. Every state has a department that accepts consumer complaints about insurers. A complaint can prompt a response, though it does not decide who is entitled to the money.
Written by the attorneys of Interpleader Law. General information, not legal advice; the law differs by state and by policy, and every case turns on its own facts.