What to do when a Great Plains Life account holder dies
Contact Great Plains Life — 7-step process, 6 required documents, and american life & security corp. does not publish a claim-payment service standard. nebraska is the insurer's domicile; most life insurers pay a clean, uncontested claim within 30-60 days of receiving complete documentation.
Brand change
Great Plains Life Assurance Company was merged into American Life & Security Corp. on December 1, 2016, per Midwest Holding Inc.'s SEC Form 10-K, and no longer operates as a separate insurer. American Life & Security Corp. ("American Life") in Lincoln, Nebraska services all in-force Great Plains Life policies: 402-489-8266, fax 402-489-8295, 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506. Original Great Plains Life policy numbers are still valid. American Life's parent, Midwest Holding Inc., was acquired by an affiliate of Antarctica Capital on December 21, 2023. There is no separate American Life & Security Corp. record in this directory yet, so no successorId is set; all contacts on this record are American Life's. Effective December 2016.
The procedures below reflect Great Plains Life's accounts. Account servicing may transfer as the change takes effect.
Great Plains Life
Subsidiary of Antarctica Capital (via Midwest Holding Inc. / American Life & Security Corp.)
american-life.com→
American Life & Security Corp. (successor to Great Plains Life)
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteLearn more→
American Life & Security Corp. (successor to Great Plains Life)
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteLearn more→
American Life & Security Corp. - Claims
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteNotify online→
Verified Jul 2026
A death claim on a Great Plains Life policy is filed through the American Life & Security Corp. - Claims (402-489-8266). Because insurance proceeds pass directly to named beneficiaries, this process is separate from probate. The required documentation and timeline vary by policy type.
The first step is contacting Great Plains Life at 402-489-8266 with the account holder's full name, account numbers, and a certified death certificate in hand.
Death claim process
To file a claim after an account holder's death, here is what Great Plains Life requires:
Filing a claim
1
Call American Life & Security Corp. at 402-489-8266 to report the insured's death. Great Plains Life Assurance Company has not existed since it merged into American Life on December 1, 2016 - there is no Great Plains Life phone number or South Dakota office to call, and mail sent to the old Mitchell, South Dakota address will not reach anyone.
2
Identify the policy:
- The insured's full legal name, date of birth, and date of death
- The original Great Plains Life policy number, which remains valid
- If the policy number is lost, ask for a policy search using the insured's name, date of birth, and Social Security number
3
Request the death claim packet. American Life mails it; it is not downloadable, and there is no online claim filing - the policyholder portal at portal.american-life.com is for account access, not claim submission.
4
Return the completed packet with:
- The signed claimant statement from each beneficiary
- A certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID
- Trust documentation (trust name, date, EIN, certification of trust) if a trust is the beneficiary, or Letters Testamentary / Letters of Administration if the estate is the beneficiary
5
Mail to American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506 (fax 402-489-8295 for supporting documents)
6
American Life reviews the claim and pays the death benefit to the named beneficiary. If no beneficiary survives the insured, the proceeds default to the insured's estate under most life policies and will have to pass through probate - check the policy's own default provision.
7
If a claim stalls or you cannot get a response, the insurer is Nebraska-domiciled: the Nebraska Department of Insurance handles consumer complaints against American Life & Security Corp., and you may also complain to the insurance department in your own state.
Required Documents
- Completed claimant statement from each beneficiary (mailed by American Life on request)
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Government-issued photo ID for each claimant
- The original policy document, if available
- Trust name, trust date, trust EIN, and certification of trust or trust pages, if a trust is the beneficiary
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, if the estate is the beneficiary
Claims Contact
What to know at this institution
All Great Plains Life claims go to American Life & Security Corp., 402-489-8266, fax 402-489-8295, 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506. American Life does not publish a dedicated claims line, a claims email, or business hours; 402-489-8266 is its only published number and is the entry point for reporting a death and requesting the claim packet. Great Plains Life merged into American Life on December 1, 2016; the South Dakota entity and its Mitchell, SD office are gone. Original Great Plains Life policy numbers remain valid, and American Life can run a policy search from the insured's name, date of birth, and Social Security number. American Life's public website markets annuities only and has no claims page, no claims email, and no downloadable claim form - the phone call is the entry point. Contestability: a life insurer can generally contest a policy for misrepresentation only during the contestability period stated in the policy (typically the first two years after issue). Every Great Plains Life policy was issued before December 2016, so any such policy is long past its contestability period and past any suicide-exclusion window.
Prepare your letter of instruction to Great Plains Life
Great Plains Life asks for a letter of instruction alongside its claim form. We prepare a transmittal cover letter and the enclosure checklist Great Plains Life requires.
Build your letter of instructionProcessing timelines at Great Plains Life: American Life & Security Corp. does not publish a claim-payment service standard. Nebraska is the insurer's domicile; most life insurers pay a clean, uncontested claim within 30-60 days of receiving complete documentation. Incomplete documentation is the most common cause of delays—submitting all required documents with the initial claim helps avoid additional processing time.
Documentation required by Great Plains Life includes Completed claimant statement from each beneficiary (mailed by American Life on request), Certified copy of the death certificate, and Government-issued photo ID for each claimant, along with additional paperwork that varies by account type. All death certificates and court documents must be certified copies.
Frequently asked questions
American Life & Security Corp. does. Great Plains Life Assurance Company was merged into American Life & Security Corp. on December 1, 2016, as stated in Midwest Holding Inc.'s SEC Form 10-K. The South Dakota company and its Mitchell, South Dakota office are gone, and there is no Great Plains Life phone number left to call. Every in-force Great Plains Life policy is now an American Life & Security Corp. obligation, serviced from Lincoln, Nebraska. Call 402-489-8266 to report a death and request the claim packet, and mail the completed packet to 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506. The original Great Plains Life policy number is still the servicing number.
Yes. Call American Life & Security Corp. at 402-489-8266 with the insured's full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number and ask for a policy search - American Life absorbed Great Plains Life's entire in-force block in the December 2016 merger, so it holds the records. Because every Great Plains Life policy was issued before December 2016, any policy you find is long past its contestability period (typically the first two years after issue), so the insurer cannot rescind it for a misstatement on the original application. If American Life has no record, the death benefit may have been escheated to the state as unclaimed property; check the unclaimed-property office of the state where the insured lived and of South Dakota.
Yes. A revocable living trust can be named as beneficiary of a legacy Great Plains Life term or whole life policy, which keeps the death benefit out of probate and lets the trustee distribute it under the trust's terms. Call American Life & Security Corp. at 402-489-8266 to request the beneficiary change form - American Life does not publish policyholder forms on its website, so there is nothing to download. Give the trust's exact legal name, the date the trust was signed, and the trustee name(s) in place of a beneficiary's birth date and Social Security number. The policy owner must sign. Naming the trust as beneficiary does not remove the death benefit from your taxable estate; only assigning ownership of the policy to an irrevocable life insurance trust does that, and the IRC 2035 three-year lookback applies to that transfer.
American Life & Security Corp. is domiciled in Nebraska and regulated by the Nebraska Department of Insurance, which reviewed and approved the change of control of the company when its parent was taken private. The company's own website carries an A.M. Best rating of B++ as its marketing-name disclosure. Its parent, Midwest Holding Inc., was acquired by an affiliate of Antarctica Capital on December 21, 2023, and deregistered its stock with the SEC shortly after, so Midwest no longer files public financial reports. If you have a complaint about a Great Plains Life policy or a claim, contact the Nebraska Department of Insurance, or the insurance department in your own state of residence.
No. American Life & Security Corp. runs a policyholder portal at portal.american-life.com for account access, but its public site markets annuities only and has no claims page, no claims email address, and no downloadable claim or beneficiary form. Every legacy Great Plains Life transaction - death claim, beneficiary change, ownership transfer to a trust - starts with a phone call to 402-489-8266 to have the paper form or claim packet sent to you, and the signed form goes back by mail to 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506 or by fax to 402-489-8295. Certified death certificates should be mailed, not faxed.
Great Plains Life's American Life & Security Corp. - Claims can be reached by phone at 402-489-8266 and fax at 402-489-8295 for questions throughout the claims process.
Sources
Data sourced from Great Plains Life primary sources (13 pages reviewed). How we research.
Great Plains Life
Subsidiary of Antarctica Capital (via Midwest Holding Inc. / American Life & Security Corp.)
american-life.com→American Life & Security Corp. (successor to Great Plains Life)
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteLearn more→
American Life & Security Corp. (successor to Great Plains Life)
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteLearn more→
American Life & Security Corp. - Claims
Phone402-489-8266
Fax402-489-8295
Mailing Address
American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506
WebsiteNotify online→
Verified Jul 2026
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