Insurance: unclaimed life insurance.

Existing law generally regulates the business of insurance in the state, including life insurance. Existing law provides for the escheat to the state of unclaimed personal property, including funds owed under a life insurance policy or annuity contract if the funds are unclaimed and unpaid for more than 3 years after the funds became payable. This bill, the Unclaimed Life Insurance and Annuities Act, would provide standards for identifying a deceased individual whose death may require an insurer to pay benefits or proceeds to beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of a life insurance policy, annuity contract, or retained asset account, for locating those beneficiaries, and for providing those beneficiaries with appropriate claims forms or instructions to make a claim. The bill would require an insurer to match its insureds with deceased individuals in the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File by complying with specified requirements, including searching exact matches and variations of insureds' names, social security numbers, individual taxpayer identification numbers, and dates of birth. If an insurer is not contacted by a beneficiary within 120 days of the insurer's establishing its knowledge of death of an insured, the bill would require the insurer to conduct a thorough search for a beneficiary, to be completed within one year. The bill would require an insurer to provide appropriate claims forms or instructions to a beneficiary within 15 days of locating the beneficiary. The bill would require an insurer to escheat the proceeds of a policy, annuity contract, or retained asset account to the state if a beneficiary cannot be found after a thorough search. A failure to meet the bill's requirements knowingly or with the frequency to constitute a general practice would be an unfair and deceptive act, punishable by civil penalty.