April 3, 2020

Corless Barfield Trial Group is currently litigating a nearly $10 million life insurance policy dispute. This is good news for you, since if you hire us to represent your insurance interests, you know you’re getting a firm that has experience litigation high-stakes life insurance claims.

Coronavirus has incentivized people who have put off the decision to make the jump and get life insurance coverage. Life insurance policies are important financial safeguards for families throughout Florida.

Nowadays, policyholders ask us, will insurance pay out for deaths from COVID-19? How will my application be viewed if there’s a dispute? How will my policy be interpreted? How does the process work to get underwritten for life insurance with coronavirus? Is coronavirus excluded under life insurance policies?

As coronavirus spreads and daily life becomes more uncertain, life insurance applications and policy sales are going up. COVID-19 has become a catalyst for people who normally put off life insurance decisions. Everyone from millennials to Baby Boomers are jumping on the bandwagon. However, beware when answering questions for any life insurance application. Insurance companies are looking for reasons to flip your policy if it is due to pay off.

You should know that life insurance companies often refuse to pay their policy benefits when a policyholder passes away. Claims are disputed or denied regularly. The amount of money withheld each year, several hundred million dollars, has continued to climb.

If you or a family member is having a dispute with a life insurance company after a family member has passed, an experienced lawyer can help. Insurers must be held accountable. A lawyer can assist you in recovering insurance benefits legally owed to you.

When you purchase life insurance, you may initially feel comfort knowing that you’ve made a decision to provide for your family after your death. What you may not consider is that in signing this contract, some insurance companies will try to deny your claim. They have expert legal advisers on hand to interpret life insurance policies in the company’s favor. Corless Barfield Trial Group is here to help you recover the death benefits that are rightfully yours.

An insurance company’s goal is to bring in as much money as possible while paying out as little as possible. They may look to delay or deny your claim based on contract terms and exclusions under the policy. For example, possible life insurance exclusions include:

  • Act of war
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Dangerous activity
  • Illegal activity
  • Material misrepresentation
  • Misstatement of age
  • The contestable period

Another trend that we are seeing in the age of coronavirus is some insurance carriers have begun adding exclusionary riders on new policies to avoid paying out on COVID-19 deaths. An exclusion rider could become an industry standard if the morbidity rate causes carriers to experience significant financial losses due to an unexpected and unsustainable claims rate. Insurers might increase premiums in the future as many are suffering losses on their investments amid the sharp declines in financial markets.

It’s a brave new world, and you deserve to have the best lawyers working on your life insurance dispute. Remember, insurance companies are always looking to get out of paying a valid claim. Their job is to make money, and they make less money or no money if they pay out life insurance claims. Call Corless Barfield Trial Group 24/7 at 813-258-4998 to discuss your life insurance policy. The consultation is free.