What I Hated Most About Paying Life Insurance Claims

I used to think my job was about paying claims.

Process the file.

Verify the documents.

Issue the payment.

Move on to the next case.

Then I got a call that made me realize I’d been wrong the entire time.

“Can You Just Tell Me What He Wanted?”

A daughter called about her father’s life insurance policy.

$400,000.

Well-known company. On paper, everything looked clean.

But she wasn’t calling about the money.

She was calling because she and her two brothers were on the brink of never speaking again.

Her father had named her as the sole beneficiary. Her brothers assumed reasonably, that she would split it three ways.

That’s what he had always said he wanted. Fair. Equal.

The problem?

None of that was written down. Not in the policy. Not in a document. Not anywhere that mattered.

It was something he said years ago at a family cookout, remembered differently by different people.

“Can you just tell me what he wanted?” she asked.

“There has to be something in the file. A note? An email?”

There wasn’t.

And I had to explain that legally, the money was hers. She could distribute it however she chose.

But what I heard wasn’t relief.

It was the weight of an impossible decision. Honor her father’s wishes or risk losing her family.

He left her money. And a responsibility he should have handled himself.

That’s When It Hit Me

I wasn’t processing life insurance claims.

I was watching families deal with the consequences of conversations that never happened.

The Pattern I Couldn’t Unsee

After that call, I started noticing it everywhere.

The widow who discovered her husband had three different life insurance policies from three different jobs and she only knew about one.

The family who paid $8,000 out of pocket for a funeral, unaware there was a $15,000 policy that would have covered everything.

The ex-wife from twenty years ago, who learned she was still listed as the beneficiary on her ex-husband's largest policy. His current wife wasn’t listed at all.

These weren’t careless people. They weren’t irresponsible. They weren’t avoiding their obligations.

They genuinely believed that having life insurance meant their family was protected.

And it doesn’t.

What Actually Protects Your Family

Coverage is the starting line. Not the finish line.

Here’s what actually protects your family and none of it is automatic:

• They know what you have. Not “there’s a policy somewhere,” but company names, policy numbers, and where documents are stored.

• They know what you want. Not something mentioned once in passing, but clear, documented instructions no one has to interpret.

• They know what to do next. Who to call. What forms to file. What timelines to expect.

• Someone else understands the full picture. Because information locked in your head disappears with you.

  
  

Figuring this out while planning a funeral is brutal. And it’s a burden your family shouldn’t have to carry.

The Question That Still Stays With Me

How many families are one unexpected moment away from chaos?

How many people think they’ve handled this because they checked a box on an HR form years ago?

How many conversations are being postponed because “we’ll deal with it later” feels easier than dealing with it now?

I spent years watching families learn life insurance the hardest way possible. While grieving, confused, and unprepared.

I’m done watching that happen.

Why I Built the Legacy Readiness Experience

I don’t pay life insurance claims anymore.

But after years of being the person families called when it was already too late to fix the gaps, I knew something had to change.

That experience is what led me to create the Legacy Readiness Experience.

The Legacy Readiness Experience is about making sure your people are actually ready, not just insured.

Over four weeks, we organize what you have, clarify what you want, and make sure someone else can step in without confusion, conflict, or guesswork.

Because leaving money behind isn’t enough if you’re also leaving questions, tension, and silence.

What I Know for Sure

You care about your family.

That’s why you got life insurance in the first place.

But caring isn’t the same as preparing.

Preparation is the gift that protects them when you can’t.

The Legacy Readiness Experience starts soon.

Four weeks. Live.

Coverage is easy. Clarity takes intention.

And your family deserves more than money and a mystery.

They deserve a plan.