When a loved one passes away unexpectedly, the grief and pain can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, grieving relatives sometimes have to deal with an added frustration: the loved one died of an accidental death, had a life insurance policy that covers that, and the insurance company denies the claim.

While life insurance pays out for most deaths, accidental death policies, as the name implies, pay out in cases of an accidental death.

What exactly is an accidental death?

An accidental death is both sudden and unexpected. Some common examples include:
• Motor vehicle accidents (as a driver, passenger, scooter rider, or pedestrian).
• Drownings.
• Fatal falls (from ladders, roofs, windows, balconies, and decks).
• Death from leisure activities (boating, water skiing or jet skiing, snow skiing).
• Poisoning (from gases like carbon monoxide or from medications).
• Work/industrial accidents (heavy machinery accidents, equipment malfunctions, explosions, mining accidents, impact from a falling object).
• Suffocation (choking on food, other airway blockages).
• Firearms (the exclusions are those killed in combat and those who use a firearm for suicide).

This is not a complete list of examples of accidental death. The key is that the death was not intentional (suicide is), expected, or foreseeable (such as an illness).

Of course, life insurance companies make more money by not paying out on accidental death claims. Therefore insurance companies often deny claims when the situation is not cut and dried, or even when it is.

Sometimes relatives/beneficiaries of the deceased receive these rejected claim letters and simply accept it. They think there must be something in the fine print of the policy that prohibits a payout. Or they don’t know how to challenge the denied claim. It can be daunting for an individual to take on a huge insurance company and know how to respond and fight their decision.

That is where an attorney can step in and be a tremendous help, possibly the difference between no payout and tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars. The attorneys we recommend are highly reputable and have decades of experiences with accidental death policy cases. When a strong lawyer represents you, the insurance company immediately know that you mean business and you won’t just “go away” like they wish you would.

You do not have to pay an attorney anything up front. They only get a percentage of the money that they obtain for you and if they don’t make a recovery you owe them nothing.

There are important deadlines to meet in an accidental death policy case. Since time is of the essence, contact us today at 312-346-5320. We help with cases everywhere in Illinois.