Insurance co. asked for copy of will but not copy of death cert

murph100

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After my mother passed away, I contacted her insurance company as her executor to inform it of her death. The insurance company providing house insurance cover only, demanded a copy of her will. I was also a customer of this insurance company but my word counted for nothing. Is it usual for an insurance company to demand a copy of the deceased will just to continue house insurance?
 
They are looking for confirmation that you are the appointed executor. If you don't want to copy the will to them, a letter from your Solicitor might suffice.
 
After my mother passed away, I contacted her insurance company as her executor to inform it of her death. The insurance company providing house insurance cover only, demanded a copy of her will. I was also a customer of this insurance company but my word counted for nothing. Is it usual for an insurance company to demand a copy of the deceased will just to continue house insurance?
In terms of data protection, this all seems in order. You are a voice at the end of a phone looking for information about one of their customers. They should assume you a scammer until you prove otherwise.
 
Is it usual for an insurance company to demand a copy of the deceased will just to continue house insurance?
Yes. It is. The insurance company needs to see the section of the will that identifies you as the executor. In a similar situation, I was also asked to provide a copy of the death certificate and a copy of my passport for identification purposes.
 
Thank you for your replies. I wasn't asked for my late mother's death cert but the company settled for this after I complained. A deceased person's will is private until probate is granted. After that the will goes on public record. I instead sent a copy of my mother's will only showing the portion that named me as executor. One thing that was very upsetting even after the name on the policy was changed to the Reps of my late mother was the personalised letters that continued to address my late mother.
 
Condolences on your loss Murph100. I don't think the company did anything wrong, and those computer generated letters aren't personalised so much as incompetence of the insurance office stopping them. You shouldn't let things like this upset you and yes I was executor to my mother and I actually found the house insurance company to be very helpful and kind. Your insurance company absolutely had to confirm you had the authority to act, they have no interest in your mother's will beyound that. Can't remember now was it the insurance company that requested it from me, but I just used the rip.ie notice to prove death.
 
Thank you for your reply Bronte. I was just wondering if all insurance companies were as hard work as the one, and its agent, that I dealt with after my mam died. I found the companies involved very disrespectful in relation to my late mother and generally careless. They basically ignored me. We wanted to keep her house for our daughter. We were going to take our time and do it up but the insurance company wouldn't provide cover. I informed its agent that I was going through Land Registry to register ownership and I was promised a quote by phone two weeks before the policy was due to expire ( before Christmas) and promised that there would be no change in cover. No quote arrived. Umpteen phonecalls later, the company would only give the same cover on the house if I sold it. I asked for holiday home cover or other alternatives to keep the house insured. No way. The complaints representative was very nice and apologised for the way I was treated and sent me a bunch of flowers. But I was still forced to sell the house because of the stance taken by the company. It was sold last year. I had motor insurance with the same company and I told the complaints representative that I would have nothing to do with either company after what they had done. That wasn't taken on board either. I changed to a different company when renewing the car insurance. Lo and behold, I got a letter from the same insurance company that refused to provide me with cover for my late mother's house in March this year offering me a bargain in car insurance. And another letter, the following week! Needless to say, I am still upset. and I don't know whether to take it any further.
 
Again, condolences on your loss.

Unoccupied houses are very difficult to insure.
 
I found the companies involved very disrespectful in relation to my late mother and generally careless. They basically ignored me. We wanted to keep her house for our daughter. We were going to take our time and do it up but the insurance company wouldn't provide cover. I informed its agent that I was going through Land Registry to register ownership and I was promised a quote by phone two weeks before the policy was due to expire ( before Christmas) and promised that there would be no change in cover. No quote arrived. Umpteen phonecalls later, the company would only give the same cover on the house if I sold it. I asked for holiday home cover or other alternatives to keep the house insured. No way. The complaints representative was very nice and apologised for the way I was treated and sent me a bunch of flowers. But I was still forced to sell the house because of the stance taken by the company. It was sold last year. I had motor insurance with the same company and I told the complaints representative that I would have nothing to do with either company after what they had done. That wasn't taken on board either. I changed to a different company when renewing the car insurance. Lo and behold, I got a letter from the same insurance company that refused to provide me with cover for my late mother's house in March this year offering me a bargain in car insurance. And another letter, the following week! Needless to say, I am still upset. and I don't know whether to take it any further.

Well now to be fair Murph100 this is a totally different story. You were looking for a different type of insurance, which they refused, as is their right. As another poster mentioned unoccupied houses are not wanted by insurance companies in general, but they will insure them, with conditions.

Why didn't you go to a different insurance company?

I suspect that there is more to this story, the grief over the mother and the idea of 'keeping the house in the family' to continue the memories, the fear of letting go. Grief affects us all in different ways, only time will fix that. I think you should forget about this issue totally as it's doing nothing but dragging up bad memories for you.
 
Never heard of htem Moneybox are they new?

Bronte, i dont know how long they are there. I am sure I saw them mentioned on here. I have a vacant house insured with them since last year at a reassonable premium.


Here is the link [broken link removed]
 
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Unoccupied houses are very difficult to insure.
While this is correct, the deceased's insurance company should continue to provide cover for the property (building only not contents) for at least the next year. In our situation, they did this but the house had to be stripped of all contents; the alarm checked and the water turned off and the system drained. When we confirmed we had done this the cover continued. Remember, you are, as required, informing the insurance company of a material change in the policy, i.e. the building is now unoccupied as the policy holder is now deceased, and asking that the policy be continued. This is not the same as asking for a fresh quote for insuring an unoccupied building.
 
The problems that I had with the insurance company and its agent (now with the post office) was lack of information. I had arranged the cover and paid the insurance for my late mother for years. There were no objections from the companies back then. I kept both companies informed all the way through the process. The house was occupied 2 to 3 nights per week and visited daily, kept aired, heated and maintained. My husband and I looked after it for nearly 3 years and we had no incidents or claims on the policy. However, the companies took this to mean that it was unoccupied as I discovered. The particular company takes the view that if no one is in a house for more than 48 hours it is unoccupied. I tried other companies at the time but they wouldn't provide cover either and there was no time to check it further as the policy was due to expire a few days before Christmas. I even contacted the National Consumer Agency to be told that it is not mandatory for any insurance company to provide insurance. I had no choice so I gave up in frustration. They can pick and choose but consumers have to take whatever they can get. I could only get the same cover until the house was sold and even though it was occupied, it was decided by the company to be unoccupied. It is not a level playing field.
I did put it the whole sorry saga behind me but the insurance company concerned had the nerve to bother me twice this year touting for business. I wasn't worth a risk then but I am now. Well Stuff them. I'm glad that there are decent companies out there and that there are helpful representatives too but unfortunately, that was not my experience.
 
but the house had to be stripped of all contents; .

Just on this point, our relations told us to do this the day after the funeral in relation to valuables so we did that. And had to leave someone watching the place during. Terrible things people do nowadays.
 
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