Virginia Life Insurance Lawyer

Life insurance claim denials are among the most painful cases that BenGlassLaw handles. People come to us after they lost a loved one, and the insurance company has unexpectedly denied their benefits. Beneficiaries need to appeal, but life insurance denials can be daunting. We can help. 

A compassionate advocate when you need one most

Life insurance denials are truly heartbreaking. You’re grieving the loss of your loved one. You may be worried about whether you’ll be able to keep the house or provide for your children. And the life insurance policy you thought you could rely on suddenly isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Sometimes, the life insurance company lies to get to pay premiums even though they know they will try to deny a claim later.  

Life insurance companies are a business. They make money when they deny claims. It seems heartless, but the truth is they will look for any evidence or any clauses they can use to avoid paying a death benefit. Quite often, entirely valid life insurance claims are denied due to the misapplication of a policy clause or misinterpretation of the evidence. Here is case where a life insurance company tried to get out of paying after the employer had changed life insurance companies.

When this happens, you may have just one chance to make your appeal as strong as possible. Our life insurance lawyers can help you make sure you don’t waste it. We understand how to read complex life insurance policies (each one is unique!), how to interpret a denial letter, and how to evaluate medical records and autopsy reports and claims by the life insurance company that the decedent did not die due to an accident. And we are willing and able to fight wrongfully denied claims and get you the benefits you deserve—even if it means taking your case to court. 

Why work with our life insurance attorneys?

Experience

Most denied life insurance claims give you a very short time to file an appeal. An experienced attorney can help you put together an effective case before it’s too late.

Free Denial Letter Review

If your life insurance claim has recently been denied, just fax, mail, or email your denial letter to us. We’ll review it, for free, and help you plan your next steps.

Honesty

We believe in adding value to people’s lives. If we think you can handle your claim yourself, we’ll connect you with the resources you need—and save you the attorney fees.

Our goal is to ensure you get the benefits you are entitled to without unnecessary delay. Though some life insurance appeals can take months (or even years), we have experience in this unique area of law and have designed a system to develop the strongest possible appeal and streamline the appeal process as much as possible. 

Client testimonial

After fighting with the insurance company and receiving the denials, we were blessed to be referred to Ben Glass Law firm to help with the long term disability (LTD) insurance denial appeal. I would have never thought of looking out of state for an attorney, but so happy we found them. The entire team is very knowledgeable, professional, and excellent communicators. The communication about the claims and the processes were handled promptly and professionally via telephone and e-mail. They were able to win the appeals process and get the LTD insurance that was owed. They kept in contact with us even step of the process. If we had a question or a problem, they addressed it promptly. TOP NOTCH TEAM!!!

Samantha Oshel

Everyone I have spoken to has been a huge help for me. The staff is kind and professional. If I had a question, I would send an email that was responded to the same day! Mary was great and my main contact. She is very detailed and always helpful to answer my many questions. It is rare to find people that care about my problems. I would recommend Mary and Ben to anyone that needs their services!

C. A Guess Guess

Unfortunately i accidentally looked up the wrong law firm. Fortunately, I was met with a caring, kind, informative staff at Ben Glass Law. They were to helpful and referred me to a lawyer that might be able to answer the questions I have. I am so fortunate to have stumbled across Ben glass law. Not every law firm would be so considerate, informative, and helpful.

Thank you so much for your help Ben Glass Law Firm! It was a pleasure!

William Sarkis

My experience with Ben Glass Law was excellent, especially with Jennifer. She was so helpful and made me feel at ease during our conversation. We need more people like Jennifer and Ben Glass Law.

Princess Crump

I recently found myself in need of a lawyer to help me handle some issues with a long term disability insurance provider. Ben Glass Law has been the best resource I could have ever asked for. Jennifer worked with me to ensure that I got all of the information together and Olivia has kept me informed and helped me understand when I had questions regarding how the process worked. Ben made the time to fully understand all of the information and is working to ensure I have the best possible information as I work through all of my issues. The communication of this team is amazing. I have never met a more professional team.

James Morris

I would like to once again thank Tammy Hineline and Lisa Derco for their patience and expertise when working on an auto injury case for me. They both went above and beyond when even after my case was closed, I called to get some guidance on how to handle an invoice that came in after the fact. They were great and worked with the doctor’s office to get this resolved quickly. They never once complained or said they wouldn’t help me. Ben Glass Law will always be my first call if I need any legal assistance in the future.

Thanks, Tammy and Lisa!

Joanne Stevenson

Joanne Stevenson

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Life Insurance Case Results   

Since 1995, BenGlassLaw has been helping life insurance beneficiaries fight unfair claim denials, get the benefits they paid for, and get their lives back on track. Here are some of our big wins: 

$500,000

Life Insurance

4th Circuit Court of Appeals Says Lincoln Abused its Discretion in Denying Life Insurance Benefits to Widow and Children

Confidential

Life Insurance

American-Amicable tried to rescind the policy and return the premiums it had collected from the Virginia mom of a special needs child. It backed down after we appealed and threated bad faith.

Confidential

Life Insurance

The family of a Lake Michigan kayaker recovers death benefits under ERISA life insurance policy. Benefits initially denied because alcohol linked to kayaker’s death.

Frequently Asked Questions

Remember, there’s no substitute for speaking with a life insurance dispute lawyer as soon as possible, especially if your claim has already been denied. That being said, we hope you find the following FAQs useful as you consider your next steps.

Do I have to be a resident of Virginia for BenGlassLaw to handle my life insurance claim?

No. We are able to handle cases nationwide. 

Why was my claim denied?

Some of the most common reasons why life insurance claims may be denied are because of a failure to disclose a pre-existing medical condition or non-payment of premiums. All the factors that lead to a denial depend on the specific terms and conditions of the policy – and unfortunately, the life insurance companies will look for any opportunity to avoid paying a death benefit because this is a way that they make money. At BenGlassLaw, we fight for those who have been wrongfully denied. 

If your life insurance claim is denied, you should contact your life insurance company to ask for a written explanation of the denial. You should also review your life insurance policy carefully to understand the terms and conditions that may have led to the denial.  

We offer a free denial letter review to help you with this.  

What can I do to appeal the denial?

This varies depending on the life insurance company and the type of life insurance coverage, but it typically involves submitting additional information or documentation to support your claim. Often you only have 60 days to appeal these decisions. If you don’t appeal within the insurance company’s timeframe, you lose your opportunity to go to court later. The initial denial will be final. That’s how the law is written.  

This is why we urge anyone who has been denied life insurance to call our team immediately.  

Do I need a lawyer to appeal my claim?

Not always. An experienced attorney can help you understand your rights and options, and they can represent you in court or in an administrative proceeding. 

At BenGlassLaw, we offer free life insurance denial consultations and free denial letter reviews so that our experienced team can evaluate your situation and tell you whether or not hiring an attorney would add value to your case.  

How long does the appeals process take?

There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this. In some instances, the insurance companies will accept the denial letter appeal and award benefits. Others must be taken to court.  

Can the life insurance company deny a claim if alcohol was a factor?

Most life insurance policies have a clause that says they will not pay if death was due to an “injury sustained while intoxicated.” That sounds reasonable. But it’s NOT reasonable to deny coverage to everyone who happened to be intoxicated when they were injured and died. 

Here’s a real-life example. We won an appeal for the family of a man who died while kayaking on Lake Michigan. Yes, he brought beer with him on the kayak trip. The weather quickly and unexpectedly turned aggressive. And yes, the kayak capsized and, tragically, he drowned. But the insurance company was wrong to deny benefits simply because he had been drinking.  

Do you know how many people drowned while kayaking on Lake Michigan who had NOT been drinking? Sadly, there have been many. The link that the insurance company assumed between drinking and drowning was a reach. 

Judges have agreed and been clear that, even if the policy excludes an “injury sustained while intoxicated,” it is not enough to show that the person was intoxicated. The insurance company must show that intoxication directly “caused or contributed to” the injury and death. 

Simply being intoxicated does not necessarily “cause or contribute to” an accident. The insurance company cannot just assume that there is a connection. They need some kind of evidence. 

Life insurance denials are devastating, and insurance companies know they will come at the lowest point possible for you. They make the denial sound obvious and airtight, and sometimes it is. But often, the insurance company has over-reached, and interpreted their policy in a way that a judge has already said is not allowed. 

My insurance company says the cause of death isn’t covered. What can I do?

Virtually all life insurance policies have limits on when they will pay benefits—for example, if death is self-inflicted, caused by an illegal act, caused by drug or alcohol abuse, or the result of a pre-existing condition (if death occurs before a minimum waiting period). 

However, insurance companies frequently misuse these limitation clauses to completely legitimate claims. We see it all the time. 

Usually, there is a grain of truth in the insurance company’s denial of life insurance benefits. Maybe the deceased was drinking or was doing something illegal when they died. But you know what? Sometimes, that doesn’t matter. They should still be covered by their policy, and life insurance benefits should still be payable. Why? 

You learned it in grade school science class: correlation is not causation. Just because two things happened around the same time does not necessarily mean that one caused the other. For example: if your loved one was sitting at a stoplight and died because they were rear-ended by another car, does it matter what their blood alcohol level was at the time? 

Another example: If the insured died from a stroke and had been taking medication for high blood pressure, is that subject to the pre-existing condition limitation? The insurance company may say yes—but they could very well be wrong! There are many different causes of strokes. High blood pressure matters to some of them, but NOT to others. You can have high blood pressure, and have a deadly stroke, and one of them did not necessarily cause the other. 

Your life insurance benefits denial letter has a lot of important information, including the fact that you have the right to appeal. One thing, though – NEVER just write them a letter asking them to reconsider their decision. We can guarantee they will write back, saying, “we carefully reconsidered our decision and we concluded we were right in the first place—no life insurance benefit is payable.” If you are going to appeal, you get one chance to make it as strong as possible. 

Here’s where an experienced attorney like Ben Glass can help you get your life insurance benefits back. We understand how important it is to actually READ the medical records and autopsy report, look carefully at how the insurance company reached their decision, and understand the exact wording of the life insurance policy. There may be more room for argument than you think. Once we see cause for appeal, we know how to reach out to the right experts in medicine, toxicology, pathology, and accident reconstruction that can help force the insurance company to pay the benefits that are due. 

If you have been denied life insurance benefits for a loved one, send us the denial letter and we will review it for free. Don’t give up on receiving life insurance benefits until you at least take this important step. You do have to act quickly, though—after a period of time (your denial letter should tell you how long) that life insurance benefits denial will become permanent. Let us review the letter, for free, before that happens!