How Do I Write a Letter of Instruction to USAA Life?

Send it to USAA Life's estate/claims department: USAA Life Insurance Company, 9800 Fredericksburg Road, San Antonio, TX 78288. You can reach the department at 1-800-531-8455.

USAA Life lists these among its required documents: Certified death certificate; Completed USAA claim forms (provided after death is reported); Government-issued ID for the beneficiary; Deceased member's USAA member number or Social Security number. The prepared letter includes an enclosure checklist drawn from USAA Life's recorded requirements.

Allow up to 10 business days after USAA receives and completes a good order review of all required documentation. Complex claims or those within the contestability period may take longer. Annuity claim requirements must be submitted at least 45 days before the one-year anniversary of the annuity owner's death.

USAA Life provides its own letter-of-instruction form. We complete that official form with your information; you print, sign, and send it.

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.