Kanetix Forum

I'm trying to find out whether my grandmother left a life insurance policy with me as the beneficiary. I recall that she had said she was getting a policy leaving me as beneficiary. How might I go about finding out about it?

This is a question Kanetix.ca often gets from visitors to the site. We¿ve searched online and there does not appear to be a central database in Canada where you can search for life insurance policies that have been purchased.

If you know what company your grandmother would have dealt with, you might want to try them first as this is your best chance at success. If you don¿t have any success with this, try your life insurance broker. Ask them their opinion on how you can best go about finding a lost life insurance policy. They may have some insider tips that they can pass along to you.

If both of these don¿t work, you may to try the OmbudService for Life & Health Insurance. Their website can be found at www.olhi.ca. They offer a policy search service.

According to their website they "will ask insurance companies to undertake a policy search for possible insurance coverages on a deceased's life." Prior to doing a search on your behalf however they have two requirements that must be met. They are:

- There must be a reasonable basis for a search. According to the site, "Due to the size and scope of each search, there must some basic evidence to support the premise that some unlocated coverage does exist."

- Specific factual data about the deceased is available

There is an online form at the site that you can download which will ask you a variety of questions about your grandmother that will aid them in your search.

Good luck.