How Do I Write a Letter of Instruction to Great Plains Life?

Send it to Great Plains Life's estate/claims department: American Life & Security Corp., 2900 South 70th Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68506. You can reach the department at 402-489-8266.

Great Plains Life lists these among its 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. The prepared letter includes an enclosure checklist drawn from Great Plains Life's recorded requirements.

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.

Great Plains Life provides its own letter-of-instruction/claim form. We prepare a transmittal cover letter and an enclosure checklist to accompany that form.

It depends on the capacity you are acting in. An executor or administrator encloses Letters Testamentary (when there is a will) or Letters of Administration (when there is not); a successor trustee encloses a certificate of trust; a successor under a small estate encloses that state’s small estate affidavit. The prepared letter lists the proof-of-authority document for your role alongside the institution’s required documents.

A letter of instruction is the written request an institution asks for when settling a deceased customer’s account. It identifies the decedent and the account, states the capacity you are acting in, and tells the institution what to do with the account.