It's been almost 17 months since my wife passed away. This isn't a thread about that (although I made one when it happened), but rather the fact that almost 17 months after the fact, I've finally received the life insurance payout. It's been quite a journey to this point, so here's a quick recap to figuring out some of the essential matters following my wife's death.
My wife died under unusual circumstances, just passing away early in the morning in her sleep. She was a perfectly healthy 32 year old woman, she'd had a baby 9 months prior, the day before we had been on a family outing to the zoo where she felt fine besides the occasional labored breathing as we pushed strollers up the hills. But she passed away with no known conditions or indication of what was wrong.
Well, I was informed by her parents lawyer that I was going to have to wait for her death certificate being completed before I could start filling for things like the life insurance through my work, social security benefits, etc. The coroner's office told me it would be about 6 weeks which I thought was ridiculous, but I understand being short staffed and overworked leads to these circumstances. Thanks to my wife I had seen crime documentaries that talked about this very thing - I think maybe Jon Oliver has done a bit on it too. Basically the jobs don't pay what they should, they don't always have the people qualified to do it properly, because those with the training likely go into a more lucrative medical field I think. Anyway, I get all that, just call back in 6 weeks.
Enter 6 months later. My family had called the coroner's office many times, always just to be given excuses for why it was taking so long, told the case has transferred to someone else, told they're at a convention, etc. My parents reached out to our state congressmen and senators, and in a VERY TYPICAL FASHION, we got no help from our many republican representatives who said they couldn't do anything. Finally after getting into contact with Kendra Horn, the only Democrat we'd talked to, we got the report two days later.
By the way, Oklahoma, fuck you for voting out the only person who helped me. I wasn't even in her district but she still helped.
Anyway, now it's been 6 months, I have the death certificate, time to start business. Turns out social security didn't need the completed death certificate, they would've accepted the one that had a pending cause of death. Luckily they back pay 6 months so I got our full amount of survivor benefits paid. Next was the life insurance, so we sent everything out for that.
After about a month I got a letter for $5000. There was absolutely no explanation for why it was only $5,000 when it should have been $50,000, and there was no way to contact them. This was understandably worrying, but a bit of research on my behalf revealed it's normal for insurance companies to pay a small amount immediately while they investigate the case. I would eventually find someone there to talk to that confirmed this.
So it's been 7 months, but everything should be good, right? Well, another month goes by and they send a letter explaining that since I had the life insurance policy for less than 2 years, they would have to extensively research the case, but it would take no more than 1 month.
Anyway, long story short, I would continue to receive this letter about once a month until today, when a check for $45,000 showed up. So now I have that. It's really nothing, it doesn't guarantee a future for me or my son. It certainly doesn't make anything feel easier to me. But here it is. And I guess it's just another chapter of mine and my wife's life that is closed now. Here is the money my company thought would help me in the loss of my wife.
I guess today is a good day. My wife's favorite candidate was Kamala Harris last June, she'd be happy knowing she's vice president. Both of our dogs are rescues, she'd be happy that Biden's dog is the first rescue in the white house. Plus I got $45,000. But the truth is, I don't feel much elation or happiness today. I'm not sure what the thread is for, but I guess sometimes it's good to just get shit out.
My wife died under unusual circumstances, just passing away early in the morning in her sleep. She was a perfectly healthy 32 year old woman, she'd had a baby 9 months prior, the day before we had been on a family outing to the zoo where she felt fine besides the occasional labored breathing as we pushed strollers up the hills. But she passed away with no known conditions or indication of what was wrong.
Well, I was informed by her parents lawyer that I was going to have to wait for her death certificate being completed before I could start filling for things like the life insurance through my work, social security benefits, etc. The coroner's office told me it would be about 6 weeks which I thought was ridiculous, but I understand being short staffed and overworked leads to these circumstances. Thanks to my wife I had seen crime documentaries that talked about this very thing - I think maybe Jon Oliver has done a bit on it too. Basically the jobs don't pay what they should, they don't always have the people qualified to do it properly, because those with the training likely go into a more lucrative medical field I think. Anyway, I get all that, just call back in 6 weeks.
Enter 6 months later. My family had called the coroner's office many times, always just to be given excuses for why it was taking so long, told the case has transferred to someone else, told they're at a convention, etc. My parents reached out to our state congressmen and senators, and in a VERY TYPICAL FASHION, we got no help from our many republican representatives who said they couldn't do anything. Finally after getting into contact with Kendra Horn, the only Democrat we'd talked to, we got the report two days later.
By the way, Oklahoma, fuck you for voting out the only person who helped me. I wasn't even in her district but she still helped.
Anyway, now it's been 6 months, I have the death certificate, time to start business. Turns out social security didn't need the completed death certificate, they would've accepted the one that had a pending cause of death. Luckily they back pay 6 months so I got our full amount of survivor benefits paid. Next was the life insurance, so we sent everything out for that.
After about a month I got a letter for $5000. There was absolutely no explanation for why it was only $5,000 when it should have been $50,000, and there was no way to contact them. This was understandably worrying, but a bit of research on my behalf revealed it's normal for insurance companies to pay a small amount immediately while they investigate the case. I would eventually find someone there to talk to that confirmed this.
So it's been 7 months, but everything should be good, right? Well, another month goes by and they send a letter explaining that since I had the life insurance policy for less than 2 years, they would have to extensively research the case, but it would take no more than 1 month.
Anyway, long story short, I would continue to receive this letter about once a month until today, when a check for $45,000 showed up. So now I have that. It's really nothing, it doesn't guarantee a future for me or my son. It certainly doesn't make anything feel easier to me. But here it is. And I guess it's just another chapter of mine and my wife's life that is closed now. Here is the money my company thought would help me in the loss of my wife.
I guess today is a good day. My wife's favorite candidate was Kamala Harris last June, she'd be happy knowing she's vice president. Both of our dogs are rescues, she'd be happy that Biden's dog is the first rescue in the white house. Plus I got $45,000. But the truth is, I don't feel much elation or happiness today. I'm not sure what the thread is for, but I guess sometimes it's good to just get shit out.
