Help me check this out...
 

We received a letter today from a life insurance company, stating that they are in receivership and are asking for assistance locating a policy holder (namely my wife's father) so that they can settle a financial obligation owed to their client and/or client's beneficiaries.

The thing is, he died 17 years ago. So we're a little suspicious. Of course we googled the name of the company and the name of the lawyer on the letter. And got web sites which looked nice & official, which I personally could fake in about five minutes.

What's the best way to verify this is (or is not) legit before we reply? Licensing? Court records?

I'd be suspicious too. I think my first move would be to check court records or contact my state's insurance regulators to see if the receivership is legit. Does it have a court style or caption? Try to look up that court online and see if you can find a case listing and docket sheet.

Also, what happened to the dad's estate? did it go through probate? who was the executor? if it's your wife, fine, but if it was another family member who is now able to deal with it and might possibly have the estate records, I'd give it to that person to worry about.

P.S. The traditional place to check out lawyers and their ratings is Martindale Hubbell. http://www.martindale.com/

Curiouser and curiouser. The address is a PO box in Nebraska. The "Deputy Receiver" is an insurance commissioner for Virginia (or has the same name as he does). The "Special Deputy Receiver" is (or has the same name as) a member of the Texas State Bar.

Stinks like a whore without arms.

Don't be so suspicious, just email him the numbers of all your bank accounts and let the wealth pour in. :rolleyes:

Her father might have had a small insurance policy that was forgotten, even by him. That happens quite frequently, because in the olde days, men would sell policies door to door, and collect the monthly payments personally. As that practice died out, many people forgot about those policies.

:eyebrow:

It's entirely possible--there was one policy nobody had known about that paid off when he died. I guess we're suspicious that it's been so long, and the whole business about all the contacts being located in different states. We've decided my wife is going to call the lawyer listed on the Texas Bar web site on Monday and see what he has to say.

My whore without arms died on 9/11! How can you be so insensitive!:p:

Well that's why she smells so bad, dumbass.... you need to refrigerate her

Oh, Ok, I'll try that.

Probably too late. She's probably looking a lot like Mystery Meat right about now.