What to do when a Guardian account holder dies

Completed online.¹

Completed online.²

Completed by each beneficiary. Sent by the institution on request.¹

Guardian states most policies give a 31-day grace period before lapsing, and many allow reinstatement. A policy the deceased person stopped paying may have lapsed, or may be reinstatable.¹

If the policy names "Trustee Under the Insured's Last Will & Testament" and the insured died without a valid will, or no trust is created within 90 days of death, Guardian pays the owner or the owner's estate instead.¹

Guardian annuities are issued by GIAC rather than by Guardian Life, so an annuity death claim is a separate matter: it uses the annuity intake and the contract number.²

On a Joint Life contract, the surviving spouse annuitant is the sole primary beneficiary and could not have been replaced during both lives except on divorce.¹

An income annuity (SPIA or DIA) may pay nothing after death if a life-only payout option was elected.¹

If a trustee is named as beneficiary and the trust is not in force at the annuitant's death, the proceeds are paid as though a natural beneficiary had died before the annuitant, so the contingent beneficiary or the estate takes instead.³

On a Joint Life contract owned by a revocable grantor trust, changing the trust beneficiary to someone other than the surviving spousal annuitant "may result in any benefits bypassing the Contract beneficiary and being paid to the trust".³

An individual disability income policy pays nothing on death, so it is a policy to cancel, not to claim. Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America administers these policies from Pittsfield, MA.¹

Guardian annuities, which it issues; death claims on 1-866-452-4542, option 2, on the annuity track^{1, 2}

Group term life and AD&D through an employer¹

Group permanent life through an employer, and employers and planholders¹

Guardian individual disability income policies, administered from Pittsfield, MA¹

A complimentary bereavement and estate-logistics support service Guardian offers beneficiaries at no cost. Registration is linked from the life claim intake and from the life insurance contact page.^{1, 4}

Who qualifies: Beneficiaries

Guardian states that most policies have a two-year contestability period. Within it, misrepresentation on the application or "incidents (such as suicide)" may lead Guardian to contest or deny the claim, and the claim gets an application review and requests for medical records.¹

Most policies do not pay on suicide within that two-year window. A death after two years is not subject to that review.¹

The benefit paid is the death benefit in force plus any paid-up additions bought with dividends, less any outstanding policy loan and any accelerated death benefit drawn during a terminal or chronic illness. A universal or variable universal policy with an adjustable death benefit pays the benefit in force at death.¹

Guardian calls a lump sum "the most popular option, and the default choice". The annuity option converts the benefit into income payments and locks the money into them; installments leave it with Guardian in an interest-bearing account, paid monthly in amounts that can be adjusted or paused.¹

Guardian's guidance says that if a policy was sold or transferred for value to another party, outside certain exemptions, part of the death benefit may be taxable.¹