Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 12, March 22, 2024
a)
Upon a date of death notice of an insured, the date of death notice is deemed
to apply to all of the insurer's lines of business. The insurer shall check its
records to determine whether the insurer has any other policies, annuity
contracts, or retained asset accounts for that insured.
b) Upon a date of death notice of an insured,
the insurer shall:
1) Forward each United
States affiliate, parent or subsidiary, as appropriate, and any entity with
which the insurer contracts that might maintain or control records related to
policies, annuity contracts, or retained asset accounts to which this Part
applies, a copy of the information or record giving rise to the date of death
notice; and
2) Make a reasonable
effort to ensure that each affiliate, parent, subsidiary or other entity
performs a check of its records for purposes of subsection (a).
c) The presumption of death and
obligation to search for a beneficiary in Section 15(a) of the Act does not
apply if the person indicated as dead is determined not to be an insured of the
insurer.
d) Minimum standards for
good faith efforts to locate a beneficiary or beneficiaries under Section
15(a)(1) of the Act consist of the following:
1) The insurer shall search at least its
electronic searchable files, including records for which the insurer provides
record keeping services, for the most current postal address of the beneficiary
or beneficiaries. If this information is absent from the electronic searchable
files, then the insurer must search all policy, annuity contract and retained
asset account files of any format that pertain to the insured who designated
the beneficiary. If the insurer finds within these records no postal address
other than ones confirmed not to be current under subsection (d)(7), then the
insurer shall search external sources for a current postal address as described
in subsections (d)(3)(B)(i) and (ii).
2) The insurer shall make at least two
attempts to contact the beneficiary or beneficiaries in writing by first-class
mail to the most current postal address obtained under subsection (d)(1). If a
postal address is confirmed not to be current, the insurer is not required to
attempt to contact the beneficiary or beneficiaries again at that
address.
3) If the contact attempts
under subsection (d)(2) yield no response, or if the postal address is
confirmed not to be current, then the insurer shall search for the most current
postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the beneficiary or
beneficiaries by all of the following means:
A) For the most current telephone number and
e-mail address, the insurer shall search all policy, annuity contract and
retained asset account files of any format that pertain to the insured who
designated the beneficiary. The insurer shall also search these records for the
most current postal address if the insurer only searched its electronic
searchable files during the phase described in subsection (d)(1).
B) For the most current postal address,
telephone number, and e-mail address, the insurer shall search external sources
of records as follows:
i) If the insurer
already has access to a national online search or locator tool, such as
LexisNexis Public Records, Accurint, PeopleMap on Westlaw, or other comparable
databases, then the insurer shall use at least one of those tools in the search
of external sources.
ii) If the
insurer does not already have access to any of the tools or databases covered
in subsection (d)(3)(B)(i), or if the insurer has searched all those databases
to which it already has access but does not find a more current postal address,
telephone number or e-mail address than is found in the insurer's records, then
the insurer shall make reasonable efforts in using an internet search engine
and social media websites in the search of external sources.
4) Insurer Contacts
A) Using the most current contact information
obtained from the search under subsection (d)(3), until either the insurer
receives a response or all contact attempts have been exhausted without a
response, the insurer shall attempt to contact the beneficiary or
beneficiaries, in whatever order the insurer deems appropriate:
i) at least twice at a current telephone
number, leaving a voicemail if there is no answer and a voicemail option is
presented;
ii) at least twice at a
current e-mail address; and
iii) at
least once by first-class mail at a current postal address.
B) If any contact information is
confirmed not to be current, the insurer is not required to attempt to contact
the beneficiary or beneficiaries again using that information.
5) An insurer is not required to
undertake the search process in subsection (d)(3) more than once with respect
to any of the three types of contact information.
6) The insurer shall complete all efforts to
locate the beneficiary or beneficiaries under this subsection (d) within one
year after the date of death notice.
7) A beneficiary's postal address, telephone
number, or e-mail address is confirmed not to be current:
A) when the insurer finds in its records that
the beneficiary, the insured or the authorized representative of either has
informed the insurer that the beneficiary's contact information is no longer
current or is inaccurate;
B) when
one of the tools or databases covered in subsection (d)(3)(B)(i) affirmatively
and directly indicates that the contact information is inaccurate or has been
superseded by new contact information;
C) for a postal address or e-mail address,
when any writing that the insurer has sent there is returned as undeliverable;
or
D) for a telephone number, when
the insurer has called the number and either finds it to have been disconnected
or receives a response from an individual at that number who states that the
number does not belong to the beneficiary.
e) No later than the policy or annuity
contract delivery or the establishment of a retained asset account, and upon
any change of the insured or beneficiary, an insurer shall request information
sufficient to ensure that all benefits or proceeds are distributed to the
appropriate persons upon the death of an insured, including, at a minimum, the
name, postal address, e-mail address, date of birth, social security number,
and telephone number of every insured and beneficiary of the policy, annuity
contract, or retained asset account, as applicable.
f) Insurers shall update their records as
they receive or gain knowledge of a change in an insured, beneficiary, or
beneficiary's name, postal address, e-mail address, or telephone
number.
g) Insurers shall provide a
statement to the Department regarding the extent to which policy, annuity
contract, and retained asset account files currently are electronically
searchable, and future plans regarding converting files into electronically
searchable files.