Readers question is “Can you get insurance for funeral and burial costs, in Richmond, Virginia?” Jonas

Answer to Readers Question: It depends on whether or not you have other life insurance set up, as well as prearranged burial. If you have no life insurance, I would strongly advise a burial policy, since the cost can range from $5 to $10 thousand without being extravagant. Another alternative is to prearrange all of the funeral elements with your local funeral homes. Even with prearranged burial, having some life insurance can be a good thing, as it will help differ medical expenses and estate tax.

There is no other insurance in place at all then a policy to cover funeral and burial costs is a prudent idea. However, there may be reasons to add this coverage even if you have other policies in place.

This type of policy is generally for a relatively small amount of money and most funeral homes will take the endorsed policy as payment for services. Any remaining funds would be returned to your heirs or any deficit would need to be paid by them.

If you have a $500,000 policy it could take some time to get those proceeds and no funeral home would generally take a policy in that amount. Consequently that would require that your heirs pay for everything out of their own pocket. If that may be problematic for them then this could be a good addition.

Readers Question: Dave lives in Reston, Virginia and his question is: “Does a life iinsurance policy get paid to families in cases of euthanasia and what will happen to a life insurance policy if the person has a euthanasia procedure done?”

Definition of Euthanasia: the intentional killing by act or ommission of a depenent human being for his or her alleged benefit. The most commonly understood meaning of euthanasia is dying well or a good and easy death.

Answer to Readers Question: As long as the policy is two years old, it should not be a problem. It is not suicide, so the families would be paid but the policy would have to have been purchased before there was a terminal illness. Many policies have a provision to pay out a substantial amound upon diagnosis of a terminal illness.

Readers Question: “Can I get a no exam term life insurance in Portsmouth Virginia. Steve.

Answer To Readers Question: Yes, a no term life insurance is the simpliest way to buy a life insurance policy. You will not be required to undergo a medical exam, it is very convienent, easy,inexpensive and you can get coverage quickly.

BEWARE Do not consider lie on your no exam life insurance application which can be done on line, because if the life insurance company discovers the truth, your no medical exam term life insurance policy will be cancelled. If you die due to a health condition not represented on your application, your beneficiaies will actually be denied death benefits.

Readers Question: “Can you get money back from a lapsed life insurance policy?” Jo lives in Norfolk, Virginia.

Answer to Readers Question: Whole Life Insurance policies lapse due to non-payment. Usually there is a provision that is called the Automatic Premium Loan that takes money out of the cash value to pay premiums if you stop making payments. This is safety clause because most people do not conciously stop paying especialy when there is a large cash value. Your policy lapsed which means your cash value is empty, sorry, there will be no money for you. Do you have a copy of the policy? Check your policy to see if there was any cash value in it? Did you get statements showing the amount of cash value? Take out your policy and read it or call your agent and insurane company.

Readers question: “Is level term life insurance policy also known as a limited for graded benefit policy?” Ben from Newport News.

Answer to Readers Question: Graded life insurance benefit means that the 1st year you get say 33% of face value of the life insurance policy, 2nd year 66% and finally the full face value in the 3rd year. This is generally for people with serious medical conditions that otherwise would not be able to get coverage.

Graded benefit policy means a death benefit that increases with the age of the insured. Graded benefits may increase gradually and then level off, or they may increase sharply before becoming level. This type of coverage is most common in juvenile life insurance, and guaranteed issue life insurance for seniors.

Readers Question: George lives in Lynchburg, and his question: “What are the most common pitfalls of universal life insurance?”

Answer to Readers Question: Universal Life Insurance is a great tool if SET UP PROPERLY.This is an interest sensitive product. If it is set up right, your premiums will not ever go up and can actually build an attractive amount of cash. Unfortunately there are crooked people in the life insurance industry and sometimes an agent will sell this product under funded, one very important question is to ask,”to what age your policy is funded to.” The best way to fund this product is to age 100..Your policy was probably funded to age 72.

Ask questions and read the between the fine lines because sometimes the premiums go up after the age of 60 and your agent did not explain that to you and therefore you will find out that your premium don’t cover the cost of the insurance and the policy eats itself up as the premiums are too expensive to continue the insurance and there goes all the money you have paid for 20 or more years. Remember the saying BUYER BEWARE.

In Hampton, Virginia “What is the difference between a primary beneficiary and a tertiary beneficiary? Kyle

Answer to Readers Question: A tertiary beneficiary is only entitled to proceeds if the primary and secondary beneficiaries are no longer living.

Readers Question: “What does a life insurance producer do?” Rich from Dale City, Virginia.

Answer to Readers Question:

The word “producer” in reference to life insurance policies simply means “Insurance Agent”

The duty of Life Insurance Agents is to look for and finds prospects who:

• Need life insurance
• know that they need it
• are able to buy it
• want to buy it

From that point on the “Producer”/Insurance Agents helps the client to get the coverage they want and can qualify for it.

One of my readers who lives in Chesapeake, Virginia has a question: “What is principle of indemnity?”

Answer to Readers Question: The principle of indemnity is an insurance principle stating that an insured may not be compensated by the insurance company in an amount exceeding the insured’s economic loss.

Tyrone lives in Burke, Virginia. His question is “What are the health questions asked by an insurance company in order to get life insurance?”

Answer to Readers Question: If you have a medical issue you should let the insurance company know about it. It is safer to disclose any health conditions you may have at the time that your apply for life insurance.

There is a list of questions that most life insurance brokers will ask you. If your broker doesn’t ask you any questions, then I suggest you run (don’t walk) and find a more responsible and honest broker!

Each question in the list can lead to additional questions if the applicant answers in a particular way. For example, if the broker asks the applicant if she has any dangerous hobbies — and the applicant says “yes, I scuba dive” — then the broker should ask specific questions about her scuba diving (perhaps such as how often, how deep are the dives, and so on).

The most important thing is don’t lie to your broker or on an application form. Always tell the truth. You should feel comfortable enough with your broker that you can confide all of your concerns. If you don’t feel comfortable with your broker, then please find another broker! Open communication is critical to finding the most affordable life insurance policy that’s right for you.

I understand many people are scared to tell the truth and they think the truth will prevent them from getting coverage. But that’s usually not true!