I mentioned recently that I had to attend a funeral for an old friend. He was a retired Sergeant Major, an organized and responsible man, who knew he had just a few days left. He called in his kids and gave them instructions on how to take care of their mother after he was gone. He had arranged things to a "T" and gave them all the information they needed to take care of his affairs. He told his wife the night he died that she would not have to worry about anything, the house and the car would be paid off and she would have enough to spare to last her awhile, and the kids were dialed in to handling things for her so she wouldn't be faced with any hard decisions right away. He died believing that that was true. It wasn't.
When she contacted the bank about the insurance policy that had been taken out to cover the house and car, she was informed that the policy was no longer in force. The policy, it seems, has a quit clause at age 70. He was 68 when he took out the policy and had a signed contract that clearly states that the policy was in force for five years. This is the fourth year. But when he turned 70, the bank quit paying the premiums and never notified him. Instead they used the premium money against their mortgage, again without any notice to him. So the result now is that she has a looming house payment, no income, no insurance coverage on the house, and to top it off, the carrier of his life insurance has delayed payment to make sure there wasn't a "pre-existing condition"...on a policy that was started in 1985. He died of congestive heart failure. If the condition had existed in 1985 it is doubtful that he would have been around to die this month.
There is one very fortunate factor here. She has a set of twin sons...one is an Army officer in Iraq, he is there teaching the Iraqi army to fight dirty...and the other twin is a lawyer. So if one can't solve the problem in legalese, the other will come home and solve it his way. I was only half joking when I offered to visit the bank and insurance folks...I would take Toothaches Revenge along with me...people are very cooperative when dealing with him...and he's good back up.
I am sharing this with you because I am mightily frustrated by this whole thing. These folks have been my friends for 15 or so years. I watched Dave dwindle from a huge, linebacker-big-and-strong, vibrant man to a wasted away hulk in a matter of a year or so. He had been fighting hard to stay alive and when the docs told him they had nothing left to offer him, he made every effort to put things in order so his family wouldn't have to deal with crap. The crap started at the funeral home and hasn't let up yet. Since the obituary ran, every investment house in the Swirling Epicenter has called her to get her to invest her insurance money. People want to sell her things, buy her house, invest her money, offer her stuff and ...it's like a bunch of vultures circling overhead.
I am sad about the whole thing. Word to the wise...don't let this happen to you.