Virginia Life Insurance Lawyer

No. We are able to handle cases nationwide. 

Some of the most common reasons why life insurance claims may be denied are because of a failure to disclose a pre-existing medical condition or non-payment of premiums. All the factors that lead to a denial depend on the specific terms and conditions of the policy – and unfortunately, the life insurance companies will look for any opportunity to avoid paying a death benefit because this is a way that they make money. At BenGlassLaw, we fight for those who have been wrongfully denied. 

If your life insurance claim is denied, you should contact your life insurance company to ask for a written explanation of the denial. You should also review your life insurance policy carefully to understand the terms and conditions that may have led to the denial.  

We offer a free denial letter review to help you with this.  

This varies depending on the life insurance company and the type of life insurance coverage, but it typically involves submitting additional information or documentation to support your claim. Often you only have 60 days to appeal these decisions. If you don’t appeal within the insurance company’s timeframe, you lose your opportunity to go to court later. The initial denial will be final. That’s how the law is written.  

This is why we urge anyone who has been denied life insurance to call our team immediately.  

Not always. An experienced attorney can help you understand your rights and options, and they can represent you in court or in an administrative proceeding. 

At BenGlassLaw, we offer free life insurance denial consultations and free denial letter reviews so that our experienced team can evaluate your situation and tell you whether or not hiring an attorney would add value to your case.  

There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this. In some instances, the insurance companies will accept the denial letter appeal and award benefits. Others must be taken to court.  

Most life insurance policies have a clause that says they will not pay if death was due to an “injury sustained while intoxicated.” That sounds reasonable. But it’s NOT reasonable to deny coverage to everyone who happened to be intoxicated when they were injured and died. 

Here’s a real-life example. We won an appeal for the family of a man who died while kayaking on Lake Michigan. Yes, he brought beer with him on the kayak trip. The weather quickly and unexpectedly turned aggressive. And yes, the kayak capsized and, tragically, he drowned. But the insurance company was wrong to deny benefits simply because he had been drinking.  

Do you know how many people drowned while kayaking on Lake Michigan who had NOT been drinking? Sadly, there have been many. The link that the insurance company assumed between drinking and drowning was a reach. 

Judges have agreed and been clear that, even if the policy excludes an “injury sustained while intoxicated,” it is not enough to show that the person was intoxicated. The insurance company must show that intoxication directly “caused or contributed to” the injury and death. 

Simply being intoxicated does not necessarily “cause or contribute to” an accident. The insurance company cannot just assume that there is a connection. They need some kind of evidence. 

Life insurance denials are devastating, and insurance companies know they will come at the lowest point possible for you. They make the denial sound obvious and airtight, and sometimes it is. But often, the insurance company has over-reached, and interpreted their policy in a way that a judge has already said is not allowed. 

Virtually all life insurance policies have limits on when they will pay benefits—for example, if death is self-inflicted, caused by an illegal act, caused by drug or alcohol abuse, or the result of a pre-existing condition (if death occurs before a minimum waiting period). 

However, insurance companies frequently misuse these limitation clauses to completely legitimate claims. We see it all the time. 

Usually, there is a grain of truth in the insurance company’s denial of life insurance benefits. Maybe the deceased was drinking or was doing something illegal when they died. But you know what? Sometimes, that doesn’t matter. They should still be covered by their policy, and life insurance benefits should still be payable. Why? 

You learned it in grade school science class: correlation is not causation. Just because two things happened around the same time does not necessarily mean that one caused the other. For example: if your loved one was sitting at a stoplight and died because they were rear-ended by another car, does it matter what their blood alcohol level was at the time? 

Another example: If the insured died from a stroke and had been taking medication for high blood pressure, is that subject to the pre-existing condition limitation? The insurance company may say yes—but they could very well be wrong! There are many different causes of strokes. High blood pressure matters to some of them, but NOT to others. You can have high blood pressure, and have a deadly stroke, and one of them did not necessarily cause the other. 

Your life insurance benefits denial letter has a lot of important information, including the fact that you have the right to appeal. One thing, though – NEVER just write them a letter asking them to reconsider their decision. We can guarantee they will write back, saying, “we carefully reconsidered our decision and we concluded we were right in the first place—no life insurance benefit is payable.” If you are going to appeal, you get one chance to make it as strong as possible. 

Here’s where an experienced attorney like Ben Glass can help you get your life insurance benefits back. We understand how important it is to actually READ the medical records and autopsy report, look carefully at how the insurance company reached their decision, and understand the exact wording of the life insurance policy. There may be more room for argument than you think. Once we see cause for appeal, we know how to reach out to the right experts in medicine, toxicology, pathology, and accident reconstruction that can help force the insurance company to pay the benefits that are due. 

If you have been denied life insurance benefits for a loved one, send us the denial letter and we will review it for free. Don’t give up on receiving life insurance benefits until you at least take this important step. You do have to act quickly, though—after a period of time (your denial letter should tell you how long) that life insurance benefits denial will become permanent. Let us review the letter, for free, before that happens!