My mother recently passed away at the age of 103. In her papers, we
found a life insurance policy in the amount of $5,000 issued by the
"International Life Insurance Company" of St. Louis, Missouri on June
14, 1927 when she was 25. There is no address listed for the company
other than St. Louis. The policy is signed by W.K.Whitfield, President
& Clark Kell, Secretary. My question is: What is the current status
(name/address/officers/etc.) of this company?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Nov 2004 09:04 PST

stillwaters-ga,

103!  I'd like to know your mother's secrets...

As for the International Life Insurance Company, there have been at
least two companies with this name -- perhaps three -- that existed in
Missouri over the years.

One of them went belly-up and no longer exists.  Another merged, and
became an insurance company that currently operates in Texas.

I am not aware of any clear-cut way to establish which of these
companies (if either of them!) was the one that issued the insurance
policy you have in your posession.

The most I can offer is to recreate -- as best I can -- the "trail"
from the company-formerly-known-as-International-Life-Insurance-Co. to
its present incarnation, so that you can contact them to find out if
they are the right ones.

However, you should also be aware that there's a real possibility that
it was some other company of the same name that issued the policy, and
that no longer exists.

Let me know your thoughts on this.


pafalafa-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 17 Nov 2004 16:48 PST

Have you thought about enlisting the aid of a Professional Insurance
Research Service do find out about this for certain, once and for all?
Some of them are extremely reasonable, asking only nominal fees rather
than a percentage of the policy. If you like, I'd be happy to provide
you with some agencies that do this sort of thing, as an answer to
your question.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

You will want to look more closely at your mother's policy.  If this
is a Whole Life type of policy (which it most likely is considering
when it was established).  The company should have paid her when she
turned 100.  So, you may be owed a different amount than the $5K face
value you stated the policy as having since it would have "matured".

With a cash value policy, if the insured lives to 100, they generally
are paid the accumulated cash value instead of the face amount and the
policy is then fulfilled at age 100.  If the insured then saves or
otherwise invests this payout then they are generally more than
"self-insured" for the initial face value of the policy.

Hello:

I believe the current status of your mothers policy is this:

1.  Sometime in 1999, the company, International Life Insurance
Company" of St. Louis, Missouri, was assumed by General American Life
Insurance Company.  Later Gen Amer Life was assumed by Met Life.

2.  Please call Met Life, and their Gen Amer subsidary:  800 638 9294,
and the customer service representative should help you locate your
mothers policy.

If you are successful you will asked to provide a claimants statement,
death certificate, copy of published death notice, and beneficary
info.  If the named beneficary is not available, the death benefit
will be paid to your mothers estate.  I hope this gets you going in
the right direction and good luck.

Hi! Thanx for your comment. I DO know that the company did NOT contact
her when she turned 100 & I don't believe the policy is a Whole Life
type of policy. On the face of the policy, it has a section entitled
"DIVIDENDS" which states "This policy shall participate in the
distribution of the Surplus Profits of the Company as ascertained and
apportioned by it, at the end of the second year, and annually
thereafter. Dividends, at the option of the insured, shall be
either"....
Then there are four options with a check mark by the 4th option which reads:
"Left to accumulate at 3 1/2 percent interrest, compounded annually.
If a higher average annual rate is earned, this may be increased by an
interest dividend as determined and apportioned by the company. This
deposit will be payable upon the maturity of this policy or on any
anniversary of it's date."
There are also provisions to turn the policy into an annuity and/or a
trust, which I'm also certain Mom did not do. In fact, given where I
found the policy -tucked away with some love letters Dad wrote her
when they were in college and in the early years of their marriage - I
rather believe she had forgotten all about it. Another thing that
makes me believe this is that the beneficiaries on the policy are her
parents rather than my Dad.

11-20-2004

If the insurance company can't give you information, please check the
unclaimed property list for the state where your mother lived or for
Missouri to see if that money or premium refund was sent there.   You
can find the various unclaimed property state sites at www.naupa.org