An Endowment Plan provides a disciplined route for investments. It fulfils your dual need for a life cover and savings under a single roof. And hence, you decide to invest in it. You pay your due premiums and do everything needed to keep the policy running.

You also learnt a great deal about endowment plans, their types, the benefits they cover, the customisation options, exclusions, surrender, and more in the preceding chapters. But what happens at the most crucial time of redeeming that plan? How do you and your nominee figure that whole situation out?

A claim settlement process can be overwhelming, so it is important to learn about it beforehand, as well as to take your family through its intricacies. Everybody who has a part to play in the policy should be well-aware of the claims process, to make things smoother, faster, and easier for all.

An Endowment Plan generally gives you two kinds of benefits:

• Death Benefit: This is the money (sum assured along with bonuses) your family/nominee receives once they claim for it in case of your untimely death.

• Maturity Benefit: This is the substantial amount you receive at the end of the term, when you outlive it and your endowment policy matures.

Therefore, an Endowment Plan can be redeemed in two situations -

• when the policyholder passes away
• when the policyholder survives the policy term

Let’s understand the process surrounding each situation carefully.

In case of death of the policyholder -

Step 1: Notification

In case of any situation where you need to redeem a claim amount, you need to notify the insurance company first.

You can do this by:

• Calling the insurance company on their toll-free number
• Sending an email/SMS to the insurer
• Visiting the insurer’s website
• Visiting the branch of the insurance company

Step 2: Submission of Documents

You need to submit the claim form, and all the necessary documents and details relevant to the claim, to the insurance company.

Important points to be noted:

• When submitting documents, make sure to always ask the insurer for a system generated acknowledgement.
• Also, always keep a scanned copy of the entire document set with you.
• As soon as all the mandatory claim documents are submitted, the insurance company will proceed with the claim intimation request.

Step 3: Requesting additional documents

The insurance company may request for additional information or documents, and those need to be submitted within 90 days of the date of request.

Here’s a list of documents you need to compile to file a death claim -

Mandatory requirements:

• Claimant Statement Form
• Death Certificate (Self Attested Copy)
• KYC document of the beneficiary (Self Attested Copy)
• Bank details of the beneficiary

Additional requirements for claims within 3 years:

• Original Policy Document
• Medical Attendant’s Certificate (if any)
• Self-attested copies of Hospital or Treatment Records (if any)
• Employer’s Certificate (if applicable)

Additional requirements for accidental or unnatural death claims:

• FIR and Final Police Closure Report
• Driving Licence (in case of death while driving)
• Post Mortem Report
• Valid insurance document of the vehicle (in case of death due to a road traffic accident)
• Police Inquest Report / Inquest Panchnama
• News Paper Cutting (if any)

In case the Policyholder survives -

In case you, the policyholder, survive the policy tenure, you can simply visit the insurance company’s branch office and claim your Endowment Policy, by submitting the required documents.

Submission of documents:

Documents required to file a maturity claim in Endowment Plan:

• Duly filled claim form or policy payout form in prescribed format.
• Original Policy Document.

Once the documents have been submitted to the insurance company, an appointed assessor will verify the documents and the case to make sure the claim is valid.

In case of claim approval, the amount will be credited to the registered account within 30 days.

In case of rejection, the insurer will inform you the reason via calls, SMS, Email, etc.

Keep in mind -

• The claim settlement process, as well as the documents required to be submitted, will vary across insurance companies and be at the discretion of the insurer. Therefore, at the time of investing in an Endowment Plan, make sure you ask all the right questions and understand the process thoroughly.

• Once you and your nominee learn about the details, the nitty-gritties, you can bring all the policy-related and other documents together, and store them in a safe, secure place to avoid misplacement and confusion.

• As an additional layer of protection, you can create an account on the Digilocker app or open an e-insurance account, store the documents in digital format and share the account details with your nominee and family members. This will ensure they go through a smooth, stress-free claim settlement process, even in your absence.

Contrary to popular belief, insurance isn’t just a pessimistic plan meant to protect your family after your untimely death or disablement. However, redeeming a claim, when that big moment actually arrives, can be tricky and might put you on the edge.

It’s true that the final responsibility of claim settlement lies with the insurer, but as a policyholder, you, too, can do your part to make things fall in place. Hence, it’s beneficial to understand how the claims process works, and also take your family through it. At the end of the day, all you want to leave behind is a peaceful life for them.