What to do when a Bankers Life account holder dies
Contact Bankers Life — 9-step process, 8 required documents, and bankers life does not publish a claim-payment service standard. a claim on a policy in force less than two years falls inside the contestability period and triggers the section h medical history and medical authorization form, which lengthens review; an accidental death adds the section g accident detail. claims are opened only when the signed claim form and certified death certificate arrive at p.o. box 1937.
Bankers Life Policy Service
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, PO Box 1938, Carmel, IN 46082-1938 (policy service forms). Administrative office: 303 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60601
Bankers Life Policy Service
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, PO Box 1938, Carmel, IN 46082-1938 (policy service forms). Administrative office: 303 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60601
Life Claims Department / Annuity Claims Department
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Life Claims Department, P.O. Box 1937, Carmel, IN 46082-1937 (Annuity Claims Department at the same P.O. Box)
Filing a death claim on a Bankers Life policy begins with notifying the Life Claims Department / Annuity Claims Department at 1-800-773-4760. Life insurance claims are separate from probate—proceeds transfer directly to named beneficiaries regardless of whether the estate goes through court. The timeline and documentation requirements depend on the policy type and cause of death.
Bankers Life provides an online portal for initiating death claims, which can simplify the initial notification and document submission process. Claims can also be started by phone or by mailing the required documents.
Death claim process
Here is the step-by-step death claim process at Bankers Life:
Filing a claim
- Life Insurance Claim Form (BLC-002) -- Life Claims Department
- Annuity Death Benefit Claim Form: Supplemental (Annuitized) Contract (BLC-AA114SC) -- Annuity Claims Department. It asks whether the decedent was the owner, the annuitant, or unknown, and its Continuation Beneficiary option requires a NEW beneficiary designation (all previous designations become invalid)
- Certified death certificate
- Original policy, or the Certificate of Lost Policy attestation
- Assignment documentation if the proceeds were assigned
- Trust or estate documents and trustee/personal-representative identification, if the claimant is a trust or estate
- Medical Authorization Form plus the Section H provider history if the policy has been in force less than two years
Required Documents
- Completed Life Insurance Claim Form (BLC-002) or Annuity Death Benefit Claim Form: Supplemental (Annuitized) Contract (BLC-AA114SC), signed by the claimant
- Certified death certificate
- Policy or contract number, decedent's SSN, date of birth, date of death, cause of death, and place of death
- The original policy, or the signed Certificate of Lost Policy attestation in Section F of the BLC-002
- Assignment documentation, if the proceeds have been assigned
- For a trust or estate claimant: the trust or estate documents, trustee or personal-representative identification, and the entity's Employer Identification Number for the claimant section
- Medical Authorization Form and the Section H provider history (required when the policy has been in force less than two years -- the contestability period)
- Accidental death information (Section G: date, location, description) if the death was accidental
What to know at this institution
Two Bankers Life PO boxes are easy to confuse, and a misrouted package costs weeks: death claims go to P.O. Box 1937, Carmel, IN 46082-1937 (Life Claims Department for the BLC-002; Annuity Claims Department for the BLC-AA114SC), while policy-service forms such as a beneficiary or ownership change go to P.O. Box 1938. The BLC-002 (rev 12/11) has three features claimants routinely miss. (1) The BenefitNOW Account is the default disbursement for proceeds over $5,000 -- an interest-bearing draft account the beneficiary draws on by writing drafts, not a lump-sum check; a single check, proceeds on deposit, or another option has to be selected affirmatively in Section C. (2) Section B accepts an Employer Identification Number in place of a Social Security number, which is how a trust or estate claimant identifies itself. (3) Section F includes a Certificate of Lost Policy attestation, so a missing original policy does not block the claim. The BLC-AA114SC is specifically for SUPPLEMENTAL (annuitized) contracts, allows one claimant per form, and its Continuation Beneficiary election invalidates all previous beneficiary designations, requiring a new one. The online document upload at bankerslife.com/service-support/document-upload accepts only long-term care and short-term care claims -- not life or annuity death claims. New York policies underwritten by Bankers Conseco Life Insurance Company of New York are serviced separately at 800-845-5512 and use that company's forms.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Bankers Life
Bankers Life asks for a letter of instruction alongside its claim form. We prepare a transmittal cover letter and the enclosure checklist Bankers Life requires.
Build your letter of instructionProcessing timelines at Bankers Life: Bankers Life does not publish a claim-payment service standard. A claim on a policy in force less than two years falls inside the contestability period and triggers the Section H medical history and Medical Authorization Form, which lengthens review; an accidental death adds the Section G accident detail. Claims are opened only when the signed claim form and certified death certificate arrive at P.O. Box 1937. Incomplete documentation is the most common cause of delays—submitting all required documents with the initial claim helps avoid additional processing time.
Bankers Life requires several documents to process a claim, including Completed Life Insurance Claim Form (BLC-002) or Annuity Death Benefit Claim Form: Supplemental (Annuitized) Contract (BLC-AA114SC), signed by the claimant, Certified death certificate, and Policy or contract number, decedent's SSN, date of birth, date of death, cause of death, and place of death, and additional documentation depending on the account type. Certified copies are typically needed—photocopies are generally not accepted for death certificates or court documents.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. An ILIT can own a Bankers Life life insurance policy, removing the death benefit from the grantor's taxable estate. Bankers Life does not publish a standalone assignment-of-ownership form: the ownership change is made in Section A of the Life and Annuity Policy Information Form (form 20-100), the same form used for beneficiary changes. Both the current owner and the new owner must sign Section F, and where the trust is the signing owner the trustee signs with their title; the trust documentation is attached. If you live in a community property state or territory (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NM, NV, TX, WA, WI, PR), the spouse also completes Section E. Transferring an existing policy is subject to the three-year lookback rule under IRC Section 2035, and the grantor permanently relinquishes control. Bankers Life does not establish ILITs; work with an estate attorney to create one.
Bankers Life does not offer online beneficiary changes. Complete Section B of the Life and Annuity Policy Information Form (form 20-100, available at my.bankerslife.com/forms or from your Bankers Life agent) with the full legal trust name, the date the trust was established, and the trust EIN. The form instructions require Sections A and B to be completed on every submission, so confirm the ownership information too; if you name more than four beneficiaries, attach a separate sheet; and if percentages are left blank, the proceeds are divided equally. Sign Section F -- without the current policy owner's signature there, no change is made. Mail the form to PO Box 1938, Carmel, IN 46082-1938, or fax it to 312-324-5060. That is the POLICY SERVICE box; PO Box 1937 is the claims box. Policies underwritten by Bankers Conseco Life Insurance Company of New York use that company's own form.
A trust can OWN a Bankers Life life insurance policy or a non-qualified annuity (one bought with after-tax dollars, not held inside an IRA or employer plan) -- the ownership change is Section A of the Life and Annuity Policy Information Form. A qualified annuity held inside an IRA cannot be retitled to a trust, though a trust can be named as its beneficiary. Medicare supplement, long-term care, critical illness, and hospital indemnity policies can be neither owned by a trust nor left to one: they pay benefits to the insured during their lifetime and carry no transferable death benefit, so coverage simply ends at death. Note that a Bankers Life annuity claimed by a trust files the Annuity Death Benefit Claim Form and identifies itself by EIN, not by a Social Security number.
No. Bankers Life states that "claim upload capabilities are currently only available for long-term care and short-term care insurance claims." A life or annuity death claim has to be mailed: send the completed Life Insurance Claim Form (BLC-002), or the Annuity Death Benefit Claim Form for a supplemental annuitized contract (BLC-AA114SC), with a certified death certificate to Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Life Claims Department, P.O. Box 1937, Carmel, IN 46082-1937. Neither claim form prints a fax number. Report the death first by calling Claim Inquiries at 800-773-4760 (the forms themselves print 800-621-3724, Monday-Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM CT).
By default, into a BenefitNOW Account. Section C of the Life Insurance Claim Form (BLC-002) states the BenefitNOW Account is Bankers Life's "primary method of paying insurance proceeds over $5,000.00" -- an interest-bearing draft account the beneficiary accesses by writing drafts, rather than a lump-sum check. A beneficiary who wants the money differently must affirmatively select Single Check Payment, Proceeds on Deposit, or Other on the claim form. BenefitNOW is not available in all states or with some products; if the account cannot be established, a single check is issued instead. This matters when the claimant is a trust or an estate, since an executor or trustee usually wants the proceeds in the estate or trust account rather than a draft account in their own name.
Bankers Life's Life Claims Department / Annuity Claims Department can be reached by phone at 1-800-773-4760 for questions throughout the claims process.
If the deceased held multiple Bankers Life policies, each may require a separate claim or have different documentation requirements. The Life Claims Department / Annuity Claims Department can confirm which accounts require individual attention and which can be processed together.
Sources
Data sourced from Bankers Life primary sources (19 pages reviewed). How we research.
Bankers Life Policy Service
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, PO Box 1938, Carmel, IN 46082-1938 (policy service forms). Administrative office: 303 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60601
Bankers Life Policy Service
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, PO Box 1938, Carmel, IN 46082-1938 (policy service forms). Administrative office: 303 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60601
Life Claims Department / Annuity Claims Department
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Life Claims Department, P.O. Box 1937, Carmel, IN 46082-1937 (Annuity Claims Department at the same P.O. Box)
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