How do I insure my late father's house when we can't find his current policy?

[Ficklebricks]

I'm in a bit of pickle with my late father's home insurance. Before he passed away we asked him to write down important things like contacts, passwords and bank info. His notes say that his home insurance is with Nationwide, however there's no trace of a policy document either in the house or on his emails.

The bank has searched for any payment records that could be for insurance and there's nothing in the last 12 months.

Nationwide say the policy was cancelled last year.

It is possible he paid from a different account that we didn't know about, his paper records are patchy.

I'm tearing my hair out because nobody will issue a new insurance policy on the house until the old policy is cancelled!

My mother is the executor and although they were still married, they were amicably separated and living apart. So she doesn't have a clue who the policy was with.

How on earth are we supposed to track this down? For what it's worth I believe he was of sound mind when he wrote those notes for us, although in his last few days he was very confused. I think I can trust that he did have a policy with someone this year.

It's tough isn't it.

I take it you've searched his email for the word INSURANCE ?
Did he temd to get most things by email?

Maybe nationwide are right: he cancelled the policy and there is no insurance?

Can you look at his phone history to see who he called at insurance change time?

Try and see if he had a topcashback, compare the market type account where he might have compared insurance quotes?

I'm in a similar position with my sister's estate. She was also separated, and she did not keep paper records. Nor it seems, any records.

If Nationwide give you evidence that he cancelled, could you not use that to get more insurance?

Have you looked through his credit card statements as well as his bank statements? I always pay for insurance on a credit card (paying annually, upfront).

I thought insurance companies all shared info on a big database - I'm sure that's what all the recorded messages say when you phone up. But maybe it's not that straightforward.

And also, when you say 'noone will issue a new policy until the old one is cancelled' - are they expecting some kind of proof? I've never seen this with home insurance. If they're just asking 'who was the previous insurer?' then you can answer Nationwide in good faith. But how does the identity of the previous insurer affect a new policy?

If the place is indeed uninsured and burns down while insurers play silly buggers over who it was insured with the estate will be in a pretty pickle.

Are you working with a broker or just the companies on the High Street or comparison sites?

About a year ago I missed an email from my home insurer telling me they were no longer going to auto renew so for a short while until I realised, I was uninsured.

Is is possible the same happened to your father and he thought he was insured but wasn't?

Thanks for the pointers everyone. Sorry for the confusion but we have sorted it now. My mom just got off the phone to nationwide again. I think I got the wrong end of the stick, apparently she had been asking them about the insurance policy that had the old reference number from last year and so that's why she thought it was out of date. She rang again and asked more generally if they have any policy for that address and they do. Sorry to waste everyone's time! Grief makes these things so much more tricky to work through with the brain fog. Thanks all x

Glad you have it sorted, and sorry for the loss of your Dad