§ 3240 — Unclaimed benefits

New York § 3240

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law ISC: Insurance
• Art. 32: Insurance Contracts - Life, Accident and Health, Annuities

Text

* § 3240. Unclaimed benefits. (a) Definitions. For the purposes of\nthis section:\n (1) "Account" means: (A) any mechanism, whether denoted as a retained\nasset account or otherwise, whereby the settlement of proceeds payable\nto a beneficiary under a policy is accomplished by the insurer or an\nentity acting on behalf of the insurer placing the proceeds into an\naccount where the insurer retains those proceeds and the beneficiary has\ncheck or draft writing privileges; or (B) any other settlement option\nrelating to the manner of distribution of the proceeds payable under a\npolicy.\n (2) "Death index" means the death master file maintained by the United\nStates social security administration or any other database or service\nthat is at least as comprehensive as the death master file maintained by\nthe United States social security administration and that is acceptable\nto the superintendent.\n (3) "Insured" means an individual covered by a policy or an annuitant\nwhen the annuity contract provides for benefits to be paid or other\nmonies to be distributed upon the death of the annuitant.\n (4) "Insurer" means a life insurance company or fraternal benefit\nsociety.\n (5) "Lost policy finder" means a service made available by the\ndepartment on its website or otherwise developed by the superintendent\neither on his or her own or in conjunction with other state regulators,\nto assist consumers with locating unclaimed life insurance benefits.\n (6) "Policy" means a life insurance policy; an annuity contract; a\ncertificate under a life insurance policy or annuity contract; or a\ncertificate issued by a fraternal benefit society; under which benefits\nare to be paid upon the death of the insured, including a policy that\nhas lapsed or been terminated.\n (b) Applicability. (1) This section shall apply to a policy:\n (A) issued by a domestic insurer and any account established under or\nas a result of such policy; or\n (B) delivered or issued for delivery in this state by an authorized\nforeign insurer and any account established under or as a result of such\npolicy.\n (2) Notwithstanding paragraph one of this subsection:\n (A) with respect to a policy delivered or issued for delivery outside\nthis state, a domestic insurer may, in lieu of the requirements of this\nsection, implement procedures that meet the minimum requirements of the\nstate in which the insurer delivered or issued the policy, provided that\nthe superintendent determines that such other requirements are no less\nfavorable to the policy owner and beneficiary than those required by\nthis section; and\n (B) this section shall not apply to a lapsed or terminated policy with\nno benefits payable that was searched within the eighteen months\npreceding the effective date of this section or that was searched more\nthan eighteen months prior to the most recent search conducted by the\ninsurer.\n (c) Identifying information. (1) Except as set forth in paragraph two\nof this subsection, at no later than policy delivery or the\nestablishment of an account and upon any change of insured, owner,\naccount holder, or beneficiary, an insurer shall request information\nsufficient to ensure that all benefits or other monies are distributed\nto the appropriate persons upon the death of the insured or account\nholder, including, at a minimum, the name, address, social security\nnumber, date of birth, and telephone number of every owner, account\nholder, insured, and beneficiary of such policy or account, as\napplicable.\n (2) Where an insurer issues a policy or provides for an account based\non data received directly from an insured's employer, the insurer may\nobtain the beneficiary information described in paragraph one of this\nsubsection by communicating with the insured after receiving the data\nfrom the insured's employer.\n (d) Standards for cross-checking policies. (1) An insurer shall use\nthe death index to cross-check every policy and account subject to this\nsection no less frequently than quarterly, except as specified in\nsubsection (g) of this section. An insurer may perform the cross-check\nusing the updates made to the death index since the date of the last\ncross-check performed by the insurer, provided that the insurer performs\nthe cross-check using the entire death index at least once a year. The\nsuperintendent may promulgate rules and regulations that allow an\ninsurer to perform the cross-checks less frequently than quarterly but\nnot less frequently than semi-annually.\n (2) The cross-checks shall be performed using: (A) the insured or\naccount holder's social security number; or (B) where the insurer does\nnot know the insured or account holder's social security number, the\nname and date of birth of the insured or account holder.\n (3) If an insurer only has a partial name, social security number,\ndate of birth, or a combination thereof, of the insured or account\nholder under a policy or account, then the insurer shall use the\navailable information to perform the cross-check.\n (4) An insurer shall implement reasonable procedures to account for\ncommon variations in data that would otherwise preclude an exact match\nwith a death index.\n (e) Multiple policy search procedures. (1) Upon receiving notification\nof the death of an insured or account holder or in the event of a match\nmade by a death index cross-check pursuant to subsection (d) of this\nsection, an insurer shall search every policy or account subject to this\nsection to determine whether the insurer has any other policies or\naccounts for the insured or account holder.\n (2) An insurer that receives a notification of the death of an insured\nor account holder, or identifies a death index match, shall notify each\nUnited States affiliate, parent, or subsidiary, and any entity with\nwhich the insurer contracts that may maintain or control records\nrelating to policies or accounts covered by this section, of the\nnotification or verified death index match. An insurer shall take all\nsteps necessary to have each affiliate, parent, subsidiary, or other\nentity perform the search required by paragraph one of this subsection.\n (f) Standards for locating claimants. (1) An insurer shall establish\nprocedures to reasonably confirm the death of an insured or account\nholder and begin to locate beneficiaries within ninety days after the\nidentification of a potential match made by a death index cross-check or\nby a search conducted by the insurer pursuant to subsection (e) of this\nsection. If the insurer cannot locate beneficiaries within ninety days\nafter the identification of a potential match, then the insurer shall\ncontinue to search for beneficiaries until the benefits escheat in\naccordance with applicable state law.\n (2) Once the beneficiary or beneficiaries under the policy or account\nhave been located, the insurer shall provide to the beneficiary or\nbeneficiaries the information necessary to make a claim pursuant to the\nterms of the policy or account. The insurer shall process all claims and\nmake prompt payments and distributions in accordance with all applicable\nlaws, rules, and regulations.\n (3) Nothing herein shall prevent an insurer from requiring\nsatisfactory proof of loss, such as a death certificate, for the purpose\nof verifying the death of the insured, provided that if a beneficiary\ncannot obtain a death certificate, then an insurer shall accept an\nalternate form of satisfactory proof of loss.\n (g) This section shall not apply to:\n (1) a group policy administered by the group policyholder where the\ninsurer does not maintain or control the records containing the\ninformation necessary to comply with the requirements of this section;\nor\n (2) any other circumstance as determined to be appropriate by the\nsuperintendent in a regulation.\n (h) Lost policy finder. (1) The superintendent shall develop and\nimplement a lost policy finder to assist requestors with locating\nunclaimed life insurance benefits. The lost policy finder shall be\navailable online and via other means, including but not limited to the\ndepartment's toll free telephone number. The superintendent shall assist\na requestor with using the lost policy finder, including informing the\nrequestor of the information an insurer may need to facilitate\nresponding to the request.\n (2) As soon as practicable, but no later than thirty days after\nreceiving a request from a requestor via the lost policy finder, the\nsuperintendent shall:\n (A) forward the request to all insurers deemed necessary by the\nsuperintendent in order to successfully respond to the request; and\n (B) inform the requestor in writing that the superintendent received\nthe request and forwarded the request to all insurers deemed necessary\nby the superintendent in order to successfully respond to the request.\n (3) Upon receiving a request forwarded by the superintendent through a\nlost policy finder, an insurer shall search for policies and any\naccounts subject to this section that insure the life of, or are owned\nby, an individual named as the decedent in the request forwarded by the\nsuperintendent.\n (4) Within sixty days of receiving the request referenced in paragraph\ntwo of this subsection the insurer shall:\n (A) report to the superintendent through the lost policy finder the\nfindings of the search conducted pursuant to paragraph three of this\nsubsection;\n (B) for each identified policy and account insuring the life of, or\nowned by, the individual named as the decedent in the request, provide\nto a requestor who is:\n (i) also the beneficiary of record on the identified policy or account\nthe information necessary to make a claim pursuant to the terms of the\npolicy or account; and\n (ii) not the beneficiary of record on the identified policy or account\nthe requested information to the extent permissible to be disclosed in\naccordance with any applicable law, rule, or regulation and take such\nother steps necessary to facilitate the payment of any benefit that may\nbe due under the identified policy or account.\n (5) The superintendent shall, within thirty days of receiving from all\ninsurers the information required in subparagraph (A) of paragraph four\nof this subsection, inform the requestor of the results of the search.\n (6) When a beneficiary identified in paragraph four of this subsection\nsubmits a claim or claims to an insurer, the insurer shall process such\nclaim or claims and make prompt payments and distributions in accordance\nwith all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.\n (7) Within thirty days of the final disposition of the request, an\ninsurer shall report to the superintendent through the lost policy\nfinder any benefits paid and any other information requested by the\nsuperintendent.\n (8) An insurer shall establish procedures to electronically receive\nthe lost policy finder request from, and make reports to, the\nsuperintendent as provided for in this section. When transmitted\nelectronically, the date that the superintendent forwards the request\nshall be deemed to be the date of receipt by the insurer; provided,\nhowever, that if the date is a Saturday, Sunday, or a public holiday, as\ndefined in section twenty-four of the general construction law, then the\ndate of receipt shall be as provided in section twenty-five-a of the\ngeneral construction law. The superintendent may promulgate rules and\nregulations that allow an insurer to apply for an exemption from the\nrequirement that it electronically receive the lost policy finder\nrequest and report any benefits paid or other information the\nsuperintendent requests pursuant to section three hundred sixteen of\nthis chapter.\n (i) Reports. An insurer subject to this section shall include in the\nreport required under section seven hundred three of the abandoned\nproperty law any information on unclaimed benefits due pursuant to this\nsection and the number of policies and accounts that the insurer has\nidentified pursuant to this section for the prior calendar year under\nwhich any outstanding monies have not been paid or distributed by\nDecember thirty-first of such year, except potential matches still being\ninvestigated pursuant to paragraph one of subsection (f) of this\nsection. A copy of the report also shall be filed with the\nsuperintendent.\n (j) The superintendent is authorized to promulgate any rules and\nregulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section in\naccordance with the provisions of the state administrative procedure\nact.\n * NB There are 2 § 3240's\n