Trying to cash a life insurance check

[chamomiletea]

My older brother passed away in 2020. He had a life insurance through his job but didn’t add any beneficiaries. Our parents( divorced) became the beneficiaries automatically. The insurance company wrote two checks- one to my dad and the other to my mom. My mom is not in the U.S and doesn’t have a social security number so she cannot cash her check in the U.S. We had my mother sign the check and write on the back they she wants my younger brother to cash it but the bank wouldn’t accept it. The insurance won’t write another check in my younger brother’s or my name. And they only gave us two months to cash the check.
Is there anything we can do? Is what the insurance company doing legal?

 

[resjudicata]

@chamomiletea Get an attorney

 

[jamescohio]

@resjudicata

 

[jamescohio]

@chamomiletea My friend, as someone already posted attorneys and contacting the company are probably the best options . Best of luck

 

[jamescohio]

@chamomiletea 2 months to cash it in doesn’t seem right

 

[harveyg]

@chamomiletea What country does she live in?

Why does she not have a bank account in the city where she live in?

How much is the check for?

Are there no check cashing places in the city where she lives?

Look at the first set of routing numbers on the check (if I am not mistaken, it will be the first nine numbers on the bottom of the check) and look up those numbers online to see what the name of the bank is that the check was written on (it will be the bank account that the insurance company uses).

If at all possible, her first step should be to try to cash it at a bank in the country where she lives, preferably some place where she has an account or she could use this check to deposit there just for the purposes of opening an account and then she can withdraw the money later if she wants to close the account.

 

[chamomiletea]

@harveyg She’s in West Africa. The reason we’re trying to cash it here is so my younger brother can use it for school. If we cash it there it’ll be hard to convert it back into dollars. I think the only international bank there that we could possibly use is Santander.

 

[enduring_one]

@chamomiletea Trying to work with the Insurance Company would definitely be the 1st option. Well, your mother should be the one reaching out. Like others stated, the next option may be an attorney. Can you mother deposit the check at her banking institution wherever she lives?

If not, are your parents on speaking terms. Have your mother sign and then your father and have it deposited in his account and he pays her.

You mother can still open a bank account in the US without a Social Security number but this would not be online. She would have to go into the bank with the proper documentation. So this would mean that she would have to return to the US. These are just a few quick thoughts about the situation.

 

[chamomiletea]

@enduring_one The banks won’t allow anyone to cash it. My mom signed it in my brother’s name because he has part of her name. She has never been to the U.S and getting a visa takes a long time.