{"id":1870,"date":"2021-11-01T13:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.olhi-oap.ca\/?p=1870"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:30:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T13:30:39","slug":"how-to-find-if-a-life-insurance-policy-exists-for-a-deceased-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/news\/how-to-find-if-a-life-insurance-policy-exists-for-a-deceased-person\/","title":{"rendered":"How to find out if a deceased person had life insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After a death, it may not be clear whether the deceased person had a life insurance policy. Relevant information could be found in personal records, banking documents, digital files or through an employer, advisor or professional association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before requesting a search from OLHI, review the sources below. These steps may help you confirm whether a life insurance policy exists and identify the insurance company that issued it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"margin-top:64px;margin-bottom:24px;font-size:clamp(2rem, 3vw, 2.75rem);line-height:1.15\">Where to look for a deceased person\u2019s life insurance policy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by gathering the deceased person\u2019s personal and financial records. Some information may be easy to locate, but you may need to review several sources to find a policy document, a record of premium payments or a message from an insurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Personal records:<\/strong> check filing cabinets, safes, safe-deposit boxes and other places where important documents may have been stored.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Emails and digital files:<\/strong> search for the name of an insurance company, the word \u201cinsurance\u201d or messages concerning a policy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Banking records:<\/strong> look for recurring payments or withdrawals that may have been used to pay insurance premiums.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Insurance agent and professional advisors:<\/strong> contact the deceased person\u2019s insurance agent, if known, as well as their lawyer, accountant or financial advisor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Employer or former employer:<\/strong> the human resources department may have information about group life insurance offered to active or retired employees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Group disability plan:<\/strong> determine whether life insurance coverage was included with any group disability benefits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Professional or labour associations:<\/strong> some associations provide life insurance coverage to their members.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Credit cards:<\/strong> contact the card issuers to determine whether life or travel insurance coverage was connected to the account.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Travel insurance:<\/strong> if the death occurred while the person was travelling, check whether additional coverage had been purchased. Some travel insurance policies include a death benefit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.olhi-oap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/police-defunt-fr-4-tw-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Documents being reviewed to find a deceased person\u2019s life insurance policy\" class=\"wp-image-425\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Can\u2019t find any record of the policy? OLHI may be able to help you continue the search.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"margin-top:64px;margin-bottom:24px;font-size:clamp(2rem, 3vw, 2.75rem);line-height:1.15\">What to do if you still cannot find the policy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In some cases, there may be no paper document or email confirming that a policy exists. When your own search does not produce a result, OLHI may be able to contact its participating companies to determine whether one of them holds a policy in the deceased person\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before submitting a request, review OLHI\u2019s life insurance policy search process. It explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the requirements for requesting a search;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>how OLHI\u2019s policy search works;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>when OLHI can and cannot conduct a search;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>how to submit a policy search request.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/search-for-a-policy\/search-for-a-policy-of-a-deceased-person\/\">Learn about the policy search process<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a death, it may not be clear whether the deceased person had a life insurance policy. Relevant information could&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publications"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2926,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions\/2926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olhi-oap.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}