I Used to Deny Life Insurance Claims. Here’s How to Make Sure Your Family Actually Gets Paid.

Let me take you behind the curtain for a moment.

Before I became your favorite Benefits Translator, I spent several years on the other side of life insurance, paying and denying claims. Yes, both.

I was the person who decided whether a grieving family walked away with a check… or a headache.

Let me explain what that actually means.

The Death File

When an employee at Lockheed Martin passed away, HR would email me a file. For them, it was paperwork.

For the family, it was their entire world turned upside down.

My job was to take that file and answer three critical questions:

1. Are They Eligible for Coverage?

Eligibility sounds simple, but it’s not:

• Were premiums paid on time?

• Were they actively employed at the time of death?

• Did their death fall under an exclusion no one bothered to read?

  
  

Yes, exclusions exist. Many. And they are one of the top reasons claims get denied.

2. How Much Are We Paying?

This is where things get messy.

You might think, “I have $100K in life insurance.” Cute.

But here’s what we actually check:

• Is your coverage a flat amount or based on your salary?

• If it's salary-based, did you get a raise this year? Did HR update it correctly?

• Did the amount align with what was written, not spoken?

  
  

HR is not your personal insurance assistant. And mistakes?

They happen more often than you’d ever want to believe.

3. Who Are We Paying?

This is the one that gets families tripped up every. single. time.

We had to confirm:

• Is there a signed beneficiary form on file?

• Was it completed correctly?

• If there’s no beneficiary form, who gets paid?

  
  

Now pause. Think about this:

Do you even know your policy’s beneficiary provision?

If you don’t, congratulations, you are like 95% of the country.

Some policies say the next of kin gets paid. Others say all funds go to your estate, meaning probate court enters the chat and nothing moves until a judge says so.

My tip:

➡️ NEVER leave your beneficiary section blank.

➡️ Read your policy. Yes, the actual document.

Your family’s future deserves more than assumptions.

But My Job Didn’t Stop There

Some days I’d sit on the phone with medical examiners trying to confirm manner and cause of death.

Most days, I was talking to families who were already drowning in grief, now forced to learn terms they had never heard before:

• contestability period

• exclusion clauses

• beneficiary percentages

• pending documentation

• payment delays

  
  

Imagine losing someone you love, and before you can even breathe, you have to prove they were worthy of the benefit they paid for.

Here’s the Part That Changed Me Forever

When my father died, I called his employer.

They gave me seven different 1-800 numbers.

Seven.

I spent days hunting down:

• the right department

• the right person

• the right policy

• the right paperwork

  
  

Meanwhile, the funeral home is asking one question: “Where’s the money?”

Because yes, funeral homes have clocks. Timeframes. Procedures. They don’t proceed without payment.

And families, without guidance, get stuck.

Not because they didn’t have life insurance…

…but because no one told them what to do with it.

Let Me Ask You Something

If your family had to file a claim tomorrow:

• Would they know how much coverage you have?

• Do they know who the beneficiaries are and why?

• Do they know what number to call?

• Do they have the policy?

• Do they know your plans, your affairs, your intentions?

  
  

If not, you don’t have a policy… You have a problem waiting to be inherited.

Life insurance isn’t about death. It’s about direction.

Your loved ones shouldn’t have to guess.

Their grief shouldn’t be compounded by confusion.

Your legacy shouldn’t be a scavenger hunt.

You worked too hard to leave your family unprepared.

Start now.

Their peace depends on it.

If you want help breaking this down, organizing it properly, and making sure your family never ends up in this situation, that’s why I’m here.

Let's connect and make sure your policy pays the people you love, not the price of your silence.