Florida Governor Rick Scott has recently signed a law that will require life insurance companies to do more to locate beneficiaries when a person passes away. “The new law requires life insurers to search the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File for all of their policyholders retroactively to 1992 and every year going forward to identify beneficiaries. If a beneficiary cannot be found, the insurance company must turn the policy over to the State of Florida’s Unclaimed Property Program, currently overseen by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, where the state will continue to look for rightful beneficiaries.” This has been a top priority for the Florida Chief Financial Officer who felt that life insurance companies are sitting on too many unclaimed benefits.
See Jeremy Wallace, New Florida law requires life insurers to do more to find beneficiaries, Tampa Bay Times, April 12, 2016.
