New York now requires the address and phone number of all beneficiaries for life insurance applications. Called Regulation 200, it applies to all life policies and annuity contracts issued or delivered in the state of New York. This is a valuable consumer protection. If policy holder dies, it makes it harder for beneficiaries to collect on their claim if there are unreachable, and especially problematic if the beneficiary is unaware that the life policy exists.
Any life insurance applicant or policy holders regardless of where they live should heed New York’s higher standard. Carriers applications vary as to how much beneficiary information they request, and often it is minimal. The basic is merely the beneficiary’s name and relation to the insured. Genworth is more comprehensive; they also request the address, social security or tax identification number and date of birth. None that I know of have prior to New York’s ruling asked for the beneficiary’s telephone number, though the way people change numbers, it’s doubtful how useful that information will be years or decades from now. The worst offenders for omitting beneficiary information are simplified issued whole life plans, also called final expense plans. Many of these only request the primary beneficiary’s name, and don’t even ask for a contingent beneficiary.
Whatever is requested on the application, the insured should provide the agent and carrier with as much information as possible, and update beneficiary information when changes occur. Many life insurance death benefits languish unclaimed because of lack of contact information. Having been taken to task and fined for now doing so, carriers are required to make a more concerted effort to initiate death claims and notify beneficiaries. But if the policy owner dies and the beneficiaries are unaware of the policy’s existence what little contact information the carrier has will probably be outdated and cause the death benefit to go unclaimed.