Making a life insurance claim usually comes at one of the hardest times in a family’s life, so the last thing anyone needs is confusion about where to start. The process itself is generally straightforward once you know the steps, and knowing what to expect ahead of time can take a lot of the stress out of it.
Work out who to contact first
Where you start depends on how the policy was bought. If it was arranged through a broker or financial adviser, contact them first, they’ll manage the claim on your behalf and liaise directly with the insurer. If the policy was taken out directly with an insurer, contact that insurer. If it’s held inside a superannuation fund, you’ll need to go through the fund rather than the insurer directly. And if cover came through an employer arrangement, your employer or the group scheme administrator is the right first call.
Getting this step right matters, because contacting the wrong party first is one of the more common reasons the process feels slower than it needs to be.
What you’ll need to gather
Insurers ask for a fairly standard set of documents to get a claim moving:
- The policy number (or enough detail for the insurer to locate it)
- A certified copy of the death certificate, for a death claim
- A Medical Attendant’s Statement, completed by the treating doctor
- Any supporting medical records or reports relevant to the claim
- Identification for the person lodging the claim
If some of this is hard to track down, most insurers will help chase it up directly with hospitals, doctors or other third parties rather than leaving it entirely on the claimant.
Lodging the claim
Once you’ve made contact, the insurer (or your broker, on your behalf) will send a claim form and explain exactly what’s needed for your specific situation. From there, the claim moves into assessment once the completed form and supporting documents are submitted.
Insurance Advisers Top Tip:
If the policy is held inside super, ask for the super fund trustee’s claim requirements at the same time as the insurer’s, not after. The trustee has to approve the payout separately from the insurer, and requesting both sets of paperwork upfront can save weeks of sequential back-and-forth.
How long does it actually take?
This is where a lot of people are left guessing, but there are real, industry-set benchmarks. Under the Life Insurance Code of Practice, once an insurer has everything it needs to assess a claim, it must make a decision within 10 business days. For income protection claims, the outer limit is generally two months unless exceptional circumstances apply, and for TPD claims it’s six months. Insurers are also required to provide status updates at least every 20 business days while a claim is being assessed.
A simple death claim with no complications can sometimes be finalised in a matter of weeks. More complex claims, particularly TPD claims involving disputed medical evidence, can understandably take longer.
If your claim is delayed or declined
If an insurer is taking noticeably longer than these timeframes without a clear explanation, you’re entitled to ask why and to lodge a complaint through the insurer’s internal complaints process. If that doesn’t resolve it, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) provides free, independent dispute resolution and can review whether a delay or decline was reasonable.
A decline isn’t automatically the end of the road, insurers are required to explain their reasons in writing, and in some cases a claim can be reassessed with additional information. (If you want to understand the common reasons claims get declined in the first place, that’s covered in more detail in our separate article on the topic.)
If you’re facing financial hardship while a claim is being assessed
If a family is under financial pressure while waiting on a claim outcome, it’s worth knowing insurers can sometimes fast-track an assessment or make an advance payment ahead of a final decision, particularly in cases of genuine hardship. It’s not automatic, but it’s worth explicitly raising with the insurer or your broker if it applies.
Why having a broker in your corner helps
This is exactly the kind of moment a risk insurance broker earns their keep. Rather than a grieving family or an unwell policyholder having to manage forms, chase documents and follow up on timeframes themselves, a broker who arranged the policy can step in and manage that communication directly with the insurer, keep track of where the claim sits against the Code of Practice timeframes, and flag anything that isn’t progressing as it should.
At The Insurance Quoter, this is part of what we do for our clients as standard, we stay involved through the claims process rather than stepping back once a policy is in place. If you’re not sure who to contact about an existing policy, or you’d rather have that support built in before you ever need to make a claim, get in touch with our team and we can talk you through it.
Life Insurance Claims FAQs
What happens if there’s no nominated beneficiary on the policy?
The payout generally goes to the deceased’s estate instead, to be distributed according to their will (or under intestacy rules if there isn’t one), which can add time to the process compared to a direct nomination.
Is there a time limit for making a life insurance claim after death?
Most policies don’t have a strict deadline, but it’s best to notify the insurer as soon as practical, delays in lodging can sometimes make gathering documents and medical records harder further down the track.
Can you claim life insurance if the death happened overseas?
Generally yes, though it usually takes longer, since you’ll need a death certificate (and sometimes a coroner’s report) recognised or translated for an Australian insurer, and the insurer may ask for additional verification.
Do you need a lawyer to make a life insurance claim?
No, most claims don’t require one. It’s usually only more complex cases, like disputed beneficiaries or a declined claim heading to AFCA, where legal advice becomes genuinely useful rather than necessary.
