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.