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

Last reviewed March 2025 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. Simply going through their paperwork or computer may turn up the information, but sometimes you may need to conduct a more thorough search.

Where do I start?

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, but also consider contacting other advisers who may have provided services to the deceased, such as lawyers, financial planners, 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. What else can I do?

OLHI member insurance companies

If you’ve looked in all the relevant places and still can’t find it, you can submit an online request to the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI), who will contact their member companies. They can search for those who died within the last two years but more than three months 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.

Unclaimed BC

Unclaimed insurance money may eventually be transferred to the BC Unclaimed Property Society, a registered non-profit organization governed by the Unclaimed Property Act and Regulation. Use the search tool on the BC Unclaimed website to find unclaimed insurance policies in BC. Other Canadian provinces also have their own unclaimed property offices.

Insurance companies that aren’t OLHI members

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 won’t be able to find it. You’ll need to contact likely insurers directly. Some insurance company websites have databases of unclaimed insurance policy accounts that you can search.

Employer group life insurance policies

The OLHI won’t always be able to turn up group life insurance policies provided by an employer or professional association, which is why you may need to contact the deceased’s current and former employers.

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