What to do when a COUNTRY Financial account holder dies
Report the death to COUNTRY Financial's Life Insurance Claims at 1-866-268-6879
A death claim on a COUNTRY Financial policy is filed through the Life Insurance Claims (1-866-268-6879). Because insurance proceeds pass directly to named beneficiaries, this process is separate from probate. The required documentation and timeline vary by policy type.
Death claim process
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what COUNTRY Financial requires:
Filing a claim
- By mail: COUNTRY Life Insurance Company / COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company, 1701 Towanda Avenue, P.O. Box 2000, Bloomington, IL 61702-2000
- By fax: 1-866-517-7366
- The policy number(s)
- A certified death certificate
- Your government-issued photo ID
- Trust documents and evidence of the trustee's authority if a trust is the beneficiary
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration if the benefit falls to the estate
- Policy number(s)
- The insured's full legal name and date of death
- Your relationship to the deceased and which beneficiary tier you believe you are in
- Your current mailing address, email and phone number
- The claim forms supplied by the assigned claim representative, completed and signed
- A certified death certificate
- Trustee proof of authority and acceptance of duties if a trust is the beneficiary (within six months of the insured's death)
- Court appointment documents if the benefit is payable to the estate
Required Documents
- Life claim forms from the assigned claim representativeCompleted and signed.
- Certified death certificate
- Policy number(s), and the insured's full legal name and date of death
- Government-issued photo ID, for the claiming beneficiary
- Current mailing address, email and phone for each beneficiary
- Trust documents and proof of the trustee's authority to act and acceptance of duties, if a trust is the beneficiaryThe proof is written, and required within six months of the insured's death under Form 102906.
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, or a small estate affidavit, if no beneficiary at any of the three tiers survives and the benefit falls to the estateA small estate affidavit only where the state allows one for this asset.
- Documentation of the predeceased beneficiary's living descendants, for a per stirpes designation where a beneficiary died before the insured
Forms COUNTRY Financial issues1
- Life claim forms
Sent by the institution on request.1
What happens to each kind of account2
- Life insurance policy
COUNTRY pays down three tiers of beneficiaries. Primary beneficiaries are paid first, in equal shares to the survivors unless percentages were assigned; secondary beneficiaries only if no primary survives; subsequent beneficiaries only if no primary and no secondary survives.1
If a named beneficiary died before the insured and a per stirpes designation was made, that share passes to that beneficiary's living descendants per stirpes. Only if no tier survives is the benefit payable to the estate.1
Where a trust is the beneficiary, the trustee must give proof acceptable to the company of the authority to act and acceptance of duties within six months of the insured's death. Otherwise the proceeds are paid in one lump sum to the succeeding named beneficiary or, if none, to the insured's estate.2
- Annuity
COUNTRY's Financial Services Handbook says a deferred annuity usually provides a death benefit where the owner or annuitant dies while the contract is still in the accumulation phase, payable as a lump sum or as annuity payments over a specified period.3
A Single Premium Immediate Annuity on a Life Only payout stops at the annuitant's death and leaves nothing to claim. A period-certain or installment-refund payout continues to the beneficiary.1
Accounts handled elsewhere2
- COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company
Annuities, and the COUNTRY life policies it issues1
Phone: 1-866-268-6879
Mailing address: 1701 Towanda Avenue, P.O. Box 2000, Bloomington, IL 61702-2000
- COUNTRY Trust Bank
Retirement and trust accounts, held through third-party custodians1
Phone: 1-866-268-6879
What COUNTRY Financial's agreement and guidance say1
- What it says about taxes
COUNTRY's client guidance says that in many cases the death benefit is not taxable to the beneficiary, and that its representatives cannot give tax or legal advice.1
Not in COUNTRY Financial's published guidance2
- A claim form
- How long a claim takes
COUNTRY Financial's Life Insurance Claims can be reached by phone at 1-866-268-6879 and fax at 1-866-517-7366 for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from COUNTRY Financial primary sources (29 pages reviewed). How we research.
COUNTRY Financial death claims support
Life Insurance Claims (COUNTRY Life Insurance Company and COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company)
Phone
Toll-free
Fax
Mailing address
Website
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