You or the person making a claim must give the life insurer a notice in writing of the claim within 30 days of the event or as soon as possible. There are conditions which relate to a time limit or expiration date for making a claim. Commonly insurers acknowledge receipt of your notice of claim within seven days. Within 14 days of receiving the notice of claim, they will let you know whether they need any more information. The insurer will keep you informed of the progress of the claim and whether they are waiting for a response from you.

The insurer will not unreasonably reject a claim or treat your policy as if it had never been issued unless you did not give them important (“material”) information, which was:

• Asked in the application form, and had you answered it at the point of application, it would have affected their decision whether to accept your application for insurance; or
• A fact you should reasonably have known of; or
• A fact that could reasonably be expected of you to disclose.
  
  

The insurer will reject your claim if it involves fraud, deception or deliberate giving of false information.

Within 21 days of receiving full information for claim assessment, they will let you know of their decision to accept or reject the claim.

For straightforward cases, the insurer will pay a claim within 14 days of receiving all of the required documents. For more complex cases, more time may be needed and you will be kept informed of the progress.

For death claims, the insurer will pay interest if they pay a claim more than two months from the date they received your written notice of the death. The interest will apply from the date you give notice until the date they make the payment. The insurer will work out the interest using the interest rates published by the LIA on its website. The interest will be added to the amount to be paid.

For a policy bought with your CPF or SRS savings, if any claim is paid whilst you are living, the law requires the amount to be put into your CPF or SRS account.

A death claim will be paid to the trustee, nominee, executor, administrator or “Proper Claimant” as defined by the Insurance Act. For payments to a Proper Claimant, the insurer may pay up to the first $150,000 and any remaining amount will be paid to the administrator of your estate.

Policy Search

If the matter is about policy search for deceased family member (i.e. does deceased have any policies with insurance companies), LIA does not have the power to enquire with insurance companies on your behalf. Please contact every company directly: https://www.lia.org.sg/about-us/membership/.