How do I find the life insurance policy of a family member who recently passed away?

Last reviewed June 2024 by the Clicklaw editors

If you’re dealing with the estate of someone who has passed away and you need to find out whether they had a life insurance policy, there are a few things you can try. Sometimes simply going through their paperwork or computer may provide you with the information you need, but if not, you may need to conduct a more thorough search.

Where can I search?

To find relevant life insurance paperwork, you may need to do the following:

  • Start by going through the deceased’s papers, checking for policies, statements, or notices from an insurance company. Look through storage places, like safety deposit boxes or filing cabinets.
  • Review banking records for any evidence of regular premium payments.
  • If you find the name of an insurance agent, contact them. Also consider contacting other advisers that may have provided services to the deceased, such as lawyers or accountants.
  • Contact the deceased’s employer, or former employer if the deceased was retired. The human resources (HR) department would have information on whether the organization provided group life insurance benefits for active or retired employees.
  • If the deceased was receiving group disability benefits, find out if there was any group life insurance included.
  • Contact any professional associations the deceased belonged to, as many of these offer their members life insurance. For example, lawyers, accountants, construction workers, teachers, government employees, or engineers might belong to professional associations.
  • Check with their credit card companies to see if the deceased purchased any life or travel insurance through the card.
  • If the deceased passed away while travelling, investigate whether special insurance was purchased for the trip. Sometimes, travel insurance provides a death benefit.

I still can’t find a policy. Is there anything else I can do?

If you’ve looked in all the relevant places and still can’t find it, you can search for the policy of a deceased person by submitting an online request to the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI), who will contact their member companies.

While most Canadian insurance companies are members of the OLHI, a few are not. If a life insurance policy is held by a non-member, the OLHI can’t find it. Also, they won’t always be able to turn up group life insurance policies provided by an employer or professional association.

The OLHI can only conduct this search if the person died more than three months but less than two years ago.

If you find an old insurance policy but can’t find the insurer, the OLHI also maintains a database where you can search for the name of the company to see if its name changed or if it was bought out by another company.

Helpful services

  • Home page of the OLHI (OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI)): This page includes a video explaining how to search for the life insurance policy.