Travel insurance- death of policy holder

[Slavetomytoddlers]

I’m just wondering if anyone can help me as I’ve been googling and can’t find anything? Also feeling quite overwhelmed, given the circumstances.

I know the response she will be “it depends on what it says in your policy” but it’s not my policy and I don’t have access to the paperwork.

My MIL died very unexpectedly and quite tragically last week. She was due to travel to America on July 19th and go on a cruise. She’s paid for it in full and took out worldwide travel insurance before booking. From what I can see, she has spent about £8k between the cruise, expeditions, flights, transfers etc.

My husband is her only child (she’s also been widowed for 20+ years) and he has asked me to see what we need to do about cancelling and trying to recoup the money via insurance (back to her estate, obviously- not to him directly).

Does anyone know if travel insurance covers this for sure, or if I need to go directly to the cruise company, the airline, the transfer company etc in the first instance?

Will they even speak to me? We don’t have the death certificate yet as the postmortem and a criminal investigation were required and this has caused a delay.

It was a tragic and very sudden death. While recouping this definitely isn’t our top priority, we’re covering all funeral-related expenses which have amounted to thousands so would like to avoid any other large sums coming out of her estate accounts if possible.

I’m not really in the headspace for it but figure if there’s any chance, it’d need to be done asap and not after the planned departure date.

If you know who the policy is with call them and give her name, address and date of birth - they’ll be able to find the policy. You’ll need to provide them with the death certificate but it should be a straightforward claim and yes, I’d contact them for a refund rather than the cruise company.

Meant to say I’m sorry for your loss, im sure sorting this is the last thing you need.

I aleays give my family members my insurance details when I travel so that they can contact my insurers if anything happens to me. I am sure they will speak to you.
Presumably your dh is named as emergency contact in his late mum's passport, so they might only speak to him.
I am so sorry for your loss and that you are having to deal with this.

So sorry for your loss I'd contact the travel ins in the first instance, it's quite likely the cruise co etc won't refund and will direct you to the ins co.

Do you know who the insurer is? If not, do you have access to bank statements to look for a payment to an ins co?

Sadly, many people don't give their travel insurance information and travel plans to a relative. It is really important. That is why there is space in the back of your passport for emergency contacts. You need to give those contacts useful information in case anything happens.

I did forget a key piece of information (sorry- brain is fried!). I have her travel insurance policy certificate which includes the policy number but I don’t have the associated T&Cs.

I looked up the terms and conditions online for her cruise and, as it’s within two weeks of departure, they charge 100% for cancellations. I don’t know if the travel insurance company can do more than that.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions so far, and the kind wishes.

Sorry for your loss. Cancel with the cruise operator and ask for written confirmation that no refund is due and total amount paid. then contact insurer and ask what evidence you need to submit,

Slightly different point op but you shouldn't have to pay for the funeral it should be paid by the estate - most undertakers will wait to be paid - probably not the venture for the wake. I'm sorry for your loss x

Can you just have a hunt around her house for the policy docs or check emails? X

I suspect the insurers will refund the costs as long as she'd declared all relevant information when she booked. How awful for you.
I'd just ring the company and give them notice the estate will be making a claim.
Also you mention funeral expenses. That should come out of her estate and banks etc will make arrangements to pay those bills before the estate is settled. You shouldn't have to pay out upfront. You can of course if you want but you don't have to,

Sorry for your loss.

As PP have said

1. contact the cruise company to cancel, ask for a refund but if they say no ask for confirmation via return email and letter.
2. contact the insurance company, explain the circumstances and ask for a copy of the policy document for the relevant policy
3. funeral expenses would normally come from the estate. Many banks will allow for release of funds from the deceased's account directly to the funeral director in settlement of an invoice so worth contacting them too.

I can’t answer the insurance question, but can confirm that if there are funds available, most banks will pay the funeral directors if provided with the invoice etc. without needing to wait for probate.

Just call the travel insurance company and see what they say! Also tell who she booked with that she won’t be going and why.

As long as she has declared all medical conditions when she took out the policy and they didn’t put any restrictions on cover, all will be fine.

So sorry for your loss xxx

Thanks everyone for the information about banks possibly releasing funds before the estate is settled.

We haven’t yet had the funeral so we haven’t paid yet but we’re thinking it was a case that we could pay and recoup from the estate once settled.

DH is (was?) her much-adored only child and she always looked out for him so I’d imagine her will will see him as the benefactor for the majority of things so we had been thinking that if we paid it now, it’d come back to DH anyway once her estate is settled.

Knowing that the above is a possibility, I’ll look into that this week. Very useful advice, thank you all.

Sorry- stupid question.

For those saying to query with the cruise company and get them to confirm in writing if they won’t refund, I assume it’s the same for the airline and the transfer companies?

Contact each individual company, advise the travel insurance company of the death, then pass the response emails on to them.

Sorry for your loss.
When my dad died his bank had a specific number for bereavement and they were able to guide me through the process and I was then able to present the invoice for the funeral in branch and settle it from his account. I was also executor of his will, can’t remember now if that had an impact.

I would say same for all parts of the trip, some may just refund without you needing to claim and insurance will pay out if they don’t.

when my dad died he had a holiday booked, he had used a travel agent and they issued a refund without us having to go to insurance or individual companies.

Just trying to think what else would be helpful for you to know:

When you're able to register do use 'tell us once', the registrar will explain but basically it will inform loads of bodies eg dwp and so on. Saves you leg work.

Some banks will insist on probate but a lot will release funds to the executor without it. Eg national savings won't hand over anything but Halifax will transfer £50000 in a phone call once you have a certificate.

If she had a property you will need probate. You don't need a solicitor for that but can get one if you like. It's mostly just a case of being methodical.

You should either set up a bank account to use for estate funds or repurpose one. I had an empty Halifax account I used for being executor. You can keep everything separate easily that way.

Write down everything you spend. Including costs eg extra death certificates, stamps etc, it should all come out if the estate.

Get extra copies of the certificates. With this insurance as well I think you'll need at least 4, maybe 5. Lots of places want an original.

If you haven't found a funeral director yet ask your friends locally who they've used. They are nearly always lovely people who will guide you through the process.

Don't be afraid to have anything you or dh want at the funeral. No matter how quirky or sentimental. Whatever colours, whatever music. It's your time to make a farewell to her. Do what you need not what you think people expect.

Op you also need to state cruise cover, it isn’t normally covered under standard worldwide cover xx

Oh bugger. That might be the end of my mission so. I can’t see anything on the documentation I have that specifically references cruises.

I’ve emailed the cruise company and they came back, as expected, to say that as the sailing date is so close their T&Cs don’t allow any refund. So I have that in writing and have now contacted the travel insurance company. Their auto response says I’ll get a reply within 48hrs so hoping I hear back tomorrow.

Thanks everyone, you’ve all been very lovely. @fuckmyuteruslining, massive thank you for all of that additional information. It’s very useful and I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to write it out for me.

Do the cruise company understand she has died? That’s it’s not just trying to cancel on a whim? Seems quiet extraordinary that they’d not be prepared to refund at least a portion given the circumstances!
I hope you get a more positive outcome.

Yes, I’ve explained that we don’t yet have the death certificate but they came back to say that their T&Cs mean that it’s completely non-refundable regardless of reason.

To be honest, given the type of cruise is one geared towards older people, it’s probably not a rarity that their clientele die before sailing so the T&Cs are probably watertight.

The email response felt very cold, to be honest. The sign-off was “We look forward to welcoming you onboard your <company name> cruise”.

Very tempted to reply saying “unfortunately, you can’t welcome “Jane” into the cruise as she is still lying in a morgue.

Think I’m at the anger stage of grief 😬

Don’t panic, in my experience it is not the case that travel policies exclude cruises. Certainly HSBC’s, Lloyds’ and Post Office cover them.

I think I would reply / complain to the cruise company, that’s a really insensitive response and they need to re-train the operator or change the procedure.

Good luck

The excursions should be refunded, speak to the insurance company and ask to speak to the bereavement team who should be able to guide you