Until now, if the survivors did not notify the insurer of their entitlement to a life insurance policy within four years, the right to the benefit expired. In practice, this often meant that people were unaware of the existence of the policy – especially if the deceased had failed to tell them or if they were not named as heirs. Insurance companies were not obliged to actively seek out beneficiaries themselves.
Now, insurers will have to contact the survivors within two months of discovering the death of a client if they have their contact details or can find them out from available databases. The obligation will apply to contracts concluded after the law comes into force, i.e. after 1 January 2026. For existing contracts, it will be advisable to check and update, if necessary, the details of the survivors so that they can be easily contacted in the future.