Death can come knocking on anyone's doors. It is important to know how to claim the insurance money if the policy holder in your family dies.

A life insurance can be of different types, but it can be classified into two main categories: term insurance and permanent policies.

In a term policy, in case the policy holder dies, you will get the assured amount, even if you failed to pay all the premiums. However, if he or she were to survive, then the entire amount lapses after the term ends.

Whereas, if it is a permanent policy, then irrespective of the holders death on the maturity of the policy, if the person has paid all the premiums, you can get the assured sum. However, if the person defaults on the payment, the policy could lapse entirely.

If you have paid the premium for the first three years consecutively, some leniency may be shown and after cutting the premium amount you shall be paid the rest of the amount.

Also Read: 10 Commandments of Life Insurance

Here is a five step procedure to claim the assured amount from a life insurance policy in case of death of the policy holder.

Step One

See to it that you have access to the original policy. Because then the process of claiming can speed up with the help of policy number, the name of the holder, the date of issuing it, the amount insured etc.

If you don't have the policy with you, you must call up the insurance company and give them the policy holders' details to locate the policy number and order a copy of it.