S04E158 Navigating Complex Life Insurance Claims with Stephanie Prestridge

Your family can pay every premium on time and still get a letter that says, “We’re not paying.” That moment is where estate planning meets the hard reality of life insurance claims and it’s exactly what we dig into with Stephanie Prestridge, founder of Lineage Law and co-founder of Life Claim.

We talk about the behind-the-scenes mechanics that drive life insurance claim denials and delays, including the two-year contestability period and how insurers can revisit medical records even when the death has nothing to do with health. Stephanie explains why the paperwork can feel like an attrition game for grieving families, what not to say on “helpful” calls from an insurance company, and why the fine print matters more than most people realize.

We also break down the most common planning mistakes: mixing up the insured, owner, and beneficiary, assuming a will controls a policy, and forgetting to update beneficiary designations after divorce, remarriage, or new family members. Stephanie shares practical steps to protect your loved ones, what it means to challenge a questionable denial, and why a DIY appeal, especially one generated by AI, can permanently damage your chances.

Reach Stephanie here: 
www.lifeclaim.com

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Leadership In Law Podcast with host, Marilyn Jenkins 
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:42

The Leadership in Law Podcast to start to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. I'm your host, Marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, Stephanie Prestridge, to the show today. Stephanie is the founder of Lineage Law, an estate planning firm serving families across Louisiana. Stephanie's work is deeply personal. After seeing firsthand how quickly families can be forced into difficult decisions when a loved one becomes ill, shifted her focus to helping families plan ahead with clarity and intention. As her practice grew, she noticed something troubling. Even families who had planned well were often left fighting to receive the life insurance benefits that when they needed them most. That led her to co-found Life Claim, where she helps families navigate complex life insurance disputes and secure the benefits they were promised. With a background in litigation and a passion for prevention and advocacy, Stephanie brings a practical, compassionate approach to helping families protect what matters most. I'm excited to have you here, Stephanie. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate the introduction.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Absolutely. So tell us a bit about your journey.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

It was uh I have to give my grandmother, I call her Mama, I have to give her all the credit, and she's proud to take all the credit.

A Grandmother’s Question Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I went to law school and got a great job straight out of school doing international trade defense and maritime defense and was working there. And I actually got a call from my grandmother one day. Mama called to tell me that Papa had Parkinson's and she said, What are we going to do? And and it's really, you always tell everybody I can still feel that moment because I can know what it's like. I know where I was sitting, I know what I was wearing. I had the wall of windows behind me and a very traditional New Orleans. You could see the Mississippi River. And then in front of me was the wall of every award and gold star I had ever earned because I might forget someday. And I just remember looking at that wall of all these awards, thinking, I don't have a clue how to answer her question. Because when she said, Papa has Parkinson's, what are we going to do? My first answer was, Mama, I'll call mom. She's the nurse. She will tell you all the best doctors in the facilities and all of those things. And Mama very quickly put me on my place and she said, I didn't ask you where we go. I asked you, what are we going to do? And I didn't know. I didn't know. And ultimately, I ended up moving home to help take care of my grandparents. And I drove their estate lawyer so crazy that he gave me a job. And I was so appreciative for that. Still am appreciative for that. And we had very different perspectives as I was working there because I started sitting on the side of the table with my grandmother instead of sitting on the table just as a lawyer. And it shouldn't have been, I guess it shouldn't have been that profound, but it really was because all of a sudden I was watching this person that was the strongest woman I ever knew who was suddenly scared and small. And it changed how I handled my practice and how I handled estate matters. And when I went out on my own to create lineage, it was with that in mind that I wanted to work with my clients differently and I wanted to work with their advisors differently. And so we built this beautiful practice based on that experience with my grandmother. And we were actually spreading across the state. And I had a client come in who was doing an estate plan. We knew that the spouse was going to pass away. Built

The Denied Claim That Sparked Life Claim

SPEAKER_01 4:22

a plan on the life insurance that they had in place because we were going to need every dime. And then had all of that ready to go. It was a beautiful, easy plan. And when I got the call that the spouse had passed, I asked, Have you already received the life insurance? Have you made the claim? Have you gotten the money? Have you put it in the account? And the answer was, funny enough, we got this letter that said they're not going to pay. And they sent a check returning our premiums. And that was the same exact feeling I had when my grandmother told me, I didn't ask you where we go. I asked you what are we going to do. It was the same just moment of, oh my gosh, because that doesn't happen, right? You pay your premiums, you have this in place, you had it there for a purpose, you did what you were supposed to do, and it's supposed to pay.

unknown 5:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And yeah, and not only was I shocked because I had no idea that could happen, I'm an oddity. I like to, I love life insurance. I believe in it. Like I buy life insurance like some women buy shoes because I use it to invest. I have policies on my children, so they never have to have their own. Like that's I like to use that product for my investments. That's what I do. And so it was that moment of, oh my gosh, wait a second. That doesn't happen. And oh my gosh, if it does happen, what have I done? And my husband and I are all partners together, and he's a little more scrappy than me because I'm busy picking my chin up off the ground. And he's this is wrong. I'm not okay with this. And he told our client, he was, would you allow me to see if I can do something? And my client, of course, yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Um so I was busy trying to scurry and figure out what we were going to do with this estate. And I had unbeknownst to me, my husband's waging war on this policy. And what was so crazy is I remember the day that he gets this letter from the insurance company. It's a three-page letter. And in that letter, they they say not very nice things, but they include a check for the full amount of the policy. And they called him everything you could think of without using actual four-letter words. It was really impressive, actually. But he actually opens up our conference room door, walks straight into a meeting I'm having with somebody else. He's holding up that check in that letter, and he says, I will never write another estate plan because if this is happening to our clients, it's happening more than we realized. And he started a new business that day because he was not okay with it. And I wasn't okay with it. But I had had my business that was building and growing, and I loved it. And what I found over the years is that it was it was happening so much more than we realized. And his business was growing and growing to the point that he finally came in and he said, You love your people. I need you to come help me handle these cases. And that's what we've done. And it's just been an incredible practice. Because we love what we're doing and we believe in it and we love our clients and we really love each other. So it's fun to work together. But it's heartbreaking too, right? Because it's heartbreaking because nobody knows that this happens.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Uh no, you pay your premiums, you expect the payoff when this happens. How does how well without breaking any confidentiality? What was the reason for replying? For just giving back the premiums.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So, and that one, that policy was still in the two-year contestability period. And this is one of those things that nobody really knows about. I don't know if people just forget about it

Contestability Period And Claim Investigations

SPEAKER_01 7:52

when you go get a policy, but every time you get a life insurance policy for the first two years after you get it, if you pass away within those first two years, then they have the right upon your passing to go back and recheck all of your medical records to make sure what they have really wanted to issue that policy. And it doesn't matter what you died from. So to really put an extreme example, I have lots of lots of cases where someone passes in the first two years of these policies and they were murdered. And it doesn't matter because there's obviously no health condition for murder, right? It's not a pre-existing condition. But they will still go back and check as far back as they can, all of these medical records to see would we have really wanted to issue this policy because you died within the first two years and we're so sorry it was by murder, but we're still gonna go back and see did you have, did you smoke cigarettes and not tell us to do all of these things because we probably wouldn't have issued it. It's an opportunity for them to not pay the claim, basically. And the paperwork is so overwhelming for a lot of families on that because they paid their premiums, they're thinking this policy is gonna pay, and now they're getting a letter saying we're so sorry for your loss, but it's a two-year contestability period. We need you to sign all of these forms so that we can check with doctors or my favorite is we need you to sign all these forms and go get the medical records, which by the way, no, they do not. No, they do not. They can sign the form, but they do not have to go get those records for you. But it's a game of attrition, right? Because at some point, people just give up because they're grieving, they're exhausted, sometimes they're just without financial means. And you have an insurance company saying, Yeah, could you go get these records for us? We'd really appreciate it if you did. Which by the way, there's a cost in doing that and time. And it's just, it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. And I've seen it happen on anything from a $10,000 claim to a $150,000 claim. And it's just, it bothers me.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I don't blame you. You do what they ask and you pay the fees, and then all of a sudden they decide that no.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And look, I don't want to vilify insurance companies. My husband would, but I it's not my style. But I I get it. I get the business end of this. I really do. And there are people who just flat out lie. They do. And I respect the need to do their job. I don't respect how they're doing this job. I actually have a case where, in fact, I've got the form right here in front of me, that someone passed away, had the policy for 10 years, sent a form to the grieving spouse for them to sign off on something. And in that form, they agreed. If you go read the little teeny tiny print, like if you sign this, you're agreeing that they have the right to go back and check all of these medical records.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

You're outside that two-year contestability period. What are you thinking? No. So they're tricking people into opening that door for them. We've had cases where someone has passed away, and then somebody from the insurance company will call them. And it's like they're trying to help them start that claim. And we all have this internal need to be helpful and to be kind. And so when they're calling and they're asking all of these questions, and gosh, man, how is Bill doing? Man, just what was going on the past two years? And you start, man, it's just really stressful. I think he picked up a cigarette and started smoking again. We just had a lot going on. You know what that person on the phone is doing? Making notes. Taking notes. That's exactly what they're doing. And I have one case right now, this wonderful mom who was like, My son passed away. This person was calling me from the insurance company saying they were helping me. And when I tried to call back, they won't take my calls anymore. They won't talk to me anymore because now they're gonna go get all these medical records. And we had this policy four years. Why are they doing that? Because they called and talked to you.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yeah. Heartbreaking. I know that periodically through life you'll buy a whole life insurance policy or a term life insurance policy. What are some of the most common misconceptions that people have about life insurance and how does it fit with what you're doing? And obviously in an estate plan, you plan it, but then life claim

Beneficiaries Versus Wills And Trusts

SPEAKER_02 12:13

needs to get involved when something goes wrong.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

We focus exclusively on on life insurance death claims. So when somebody passes away and the insurance company is denying or delaying those payments. So there's a lot of misconceptions just on just like I had that we paid our premiums, it's just gonna pay. What do you mean they have to go investigate or they have to go do these things? So there's a lot of confusion on that. There's a lot of confusion on who gets what with these policies. And you have the person who's the insured, you have the owner of the policy, and you have the beneficiary. And it's it's a practical Reddit line of stories because like you can see where somebody says, wait, I paid that premium, but you didn't own the policy. Doesn't matter that you paid the premium. That was nice of you, but it didn't give you any ownership rights over that policy. So just because you help pay for something doesn't necessarily mean you're the beneficiary. A lot of confusion and and beneficiary designations as versus how does my will or my trust handle my estate? Because my will says give everything to my kids, but the beneficiary of my life insurance policy is my next door neighbor in the church. Well, how come my will does does my will cover that? No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

No, I thought they were two separate things. Just like you're very different things. If you've set up beneficiaries, that doesn't necessarily play along with the will. They're completely separate.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

That's exactly right. But not everyone knows that. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the well, my will says this. My will says it. I have, and just to really put it in perspective, because I have a client that is a retired cardiac surgeon. Brilliant, brilliant, brought me a will that says I amended it to say that my my children get my Roth IRA. It's like it doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that. Like you are brilliant. And just the mechanics of the paperwork and the designations and how they work with each other, it's not, it's not just one person that makes that mistake. It's a it's all across the board. It doesn't matter what your profession is, what your education is. Like there is significant confusion about that. And it's heartbreaking. It's very hard for people to understand that keeping that updated is important, paying attention to when you get divorced because sometimes it's automatically revoked, sometimes it isn't, and that the rules with regard to your personal policies are very different from the rules that apply to your employee benefits policies. The time is clock is always ticking, the rules are different for how you appeal, what your rights are, what your record can be. It's overwhelming and it's it's sad because so many people are trying to do it on their own, especially with AI.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Um, I think when we think about with wheels, we just think if we write it down, it's gonna happen because the wheel is your last will and testament. Not thinking that these beneficiaries are already set up in in the separate places. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

And again, for me, it's like a paperwork chess match, right? It's to me, it's a puzzle. You have all these pieces of paper, and maybe it's just because we're lawyers, right? We like paper, so we like to have tiles of it everywhere. Most people get overwhelmed by that, and I don't blame them. And then not every person sits down and says, this is how this piece of paper fits with this piece of paper. And this piece of paper is a life insurance policy. And by the way, this piece of paper over here is also a life insurance policy, but this is through work and this is your personal policy, and they're completely different, even though they're both called life insurance policies, even though they both have a benefit when you pass, how they work and how the rules apply are completely different. Nobody sits you down and tells you that. And so now when you're having to deal with it when someone has passed away and you're grieving, and maybe you need that money, or now you've got all of these unresolved relationships that are suddenly death and money change people. So now you've got grief and now you've got paperwork that you don't know how it all works together. It's a lot to take in. And I think that's why I'm so passionate about what I do, because it's so hard, and it's people don't know that they can get help. Like they didn't know that there are people out here who focused just on that to be able to help them.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah, I was surprised when we met, and you do such an amazing job to help people understand that. If how should people, how should families be thinking about life insurance and thinking about the pitfalls that could happen as a part of a broader strategy to protect their loved ones?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

So the first thing is if you have it, make sure someone knows, right? I it calls all the time of I think mom or dad or

Simple Ways Families Avoid Surprises

SPEAKER_01 16:57

mom and dad had this policy. They talked about it. Where do I go find it? I can do a lot of things, but I can't go find it for you. And there's a resource out there, but it's not automatic. It could take six to eight weeks if you have the information you need to do the right search. So my best recommendation is tell somebody. And you don't have to give them all the details of your life. If you don't want them to know who the beneficiaries are or anything, just let somebody know, hey, I have this policy or hey, it's through work, or it's in the filing cabinet. I have it, it's here. When something happens, I just need you to know where to go look. That is such a gift. To have it is a gift, and then to have somebody who knows where to go is also a gift.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

I would encourage families to make sure it always says what you want because people forget about it. It's kind of like they forget about their wills, right? They'll call you 15 years down the road, kids are grown, and we still got a will that accounts for five-year-olds. But you look at it and make sure that's still what you want because sometimes like you get divorced, uh, does your state have a revocation by divorce law? Did you mean to leave your spouse there or what was the rules? How does that work? And it's very different with your work policy on if you get divorced, doesn't automatically revoke it all the time. Pay attention to what you want. Then also where they're new members to the family, or or do you have somebody that's maybe not in a good place where they're not good with money? Do your kids fight? You know, pay attention to that because if they do, you know what they're gonna fight over when you're gone?

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Money.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

The life insurance every time. And because that's the free money, right? Make sure that there's just enough information for somebody to know what you have, where to go, and make sure that you pay attention to it because even though it's not money in your pocket, it's money that you pocketed away for somebody else's benefit. And you didn't have that to create a fight. You were doing it with a purpose to take care of your family. And then the other thing I would tell people is that know you have the right to challenge it. Know that if something doesn't seem right, that you have the right to call the insurance company and say, wait, something seems wrong here. But we've got, I've got a case where someone passed away and it failed to change a beneficiary from an ex-boyfriend from like years ago. And the parents call me up and they're like, wait, wait, what do we do? And I was like, I don't know if we can win, but you have the right to challenge it. You have the right to call and say, hey, wait, this doesn't seem right. And no guarantee that you're gonna get what you want, but you do have the right to make a challenge. And some people don't know that. They're like, oh, I just have to, I just have to take it the way it is. No, if you have a good basis to challenge, then can't guarantee you'll get what you want, but you can try at least to let them know, wait, something's off here, or wait, I don't know if that person had capacity to make that change when it was submitted. Was there you have the right to say, I've got questions and see what can be done. You have the right to to talk to your family members about it and ask them what they want done with it. You know, is this for your funeral? Is this to cover the house? Does it mean that'll happen the way you want it to? But you have the right to ask a question and participate in that.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

I didn't realize you could actually challenge, so it's interesting, they can challenge you before payout, but or your family. So yeah, it makes sense to be able to do that. And do you find that these pardon me, the challenges bore on term or on whole life insurance?

SPEAKER_01 20:28

I don't think that it's linked to one type or the other. The issues with the different types of insurance that I have seen are is when people call me and the insured hasn't died yet. So every day I get two to three calls with I had this policy, they told me I only had to pay so much, and now my premium's 600% more. I don't have that money. And then they're saying that I could cancel it, but I don't get any of my money back. And it breaks my heart because I have to explain to them that when you got that policy, you were paying for the right to have that policy. So it's like you're renting a policy, right? And if you cancel it, no, you don't get that money back because during that period, you were covered by that policy. So allegedly. So if you cancel it, then no, they're not going to give you that money back. They're just not. And I'm so sorry that someone didn't explain to you how the financial mechanics of these policies work. It's just that hurts my heart on those because you've got these financial tools that are basically hiding inside of a life insurance policy, which is not always bad, but people don't understand them and they don't understand the risks with them. And you've had somebody who paid on something, literally some of them for 20 years, and now they can't afford it anymore. Um, and they're like, they told me at some point it would pay for itself, but the cost of insurance has kept going up, and the interest inside of the policy did not match the cost of insurance, and so now you're having to pay. More when you were expecting to be able to ride it out.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

And it just I had the same kind of thing with whole life. And it was just I think I paid for 10 years and then and it was from my 30s to 40s. And then all of a sudden you hit 45 and we're going to readdress the amount. Right. And that wasn't whenever you got the policy, you weren't told that they were going to reevaluate the costs as you get older.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

I always tell, again, I I like life insurance. I like to have it as a resource. And so I have really large policies on my kids, but I got it when they were first born because it's much, much cheaper than nothing like having to explain to someone that no, I do not want to hurt my children. I just want to have these policies. It was a very awkward conversation. But for me, it was like, I don't know what the future holds. And if they ever, God forbid, get sick or something happens to them, they may not always qualify for life insurance. So my gift to them is to get it when they're young. And I got the whole life policy so that it could have a cash growth in there, hopefully, as they get older, so that at some point if they wanted to use it to create an income stream for themselves or if they just never could get other coverage, it's there for them. But it made sense because they were itzy witsy. And so I'm able to put enough into it to create um a benefit for them down the road that hopefully they never have to pay for. But when you look at our own policies that we got when we were old enough and able to afford that for ourselves, I get it. It's like all of a sudden the cost on that we weren't expecting. You know, we thought it was set in stone for a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, it's completely different. So going thinking about the claim being denied or delayed, what do would you say is the first step to do? Someone passes and you get a thing saying you're either denying

Denials, Appeals, And The AI Trap

SPEAKER_02 23:44

the claim and you're past those two years. What would be the first thing, other than calling life claim, obviously, to help them through that?

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Do you not do your own appeal? And I say this, we literally had a great conversation with one of the lead attorneys for one of the biggest insurance companies in the country. But it's interesting, we're usually adverse them, but we actually have a good working relationship. So we're always very honest and open about this is what we're seeing, these are the trends. Like we're doing our job, we understand. We don't like your job, but we understand that you're doing your job too. And in that conversation with them, they were both bemoaning and celebrating the use of AI in these appeals. Bemoaning because it's just as hard, if not harder, to respond to something that makes no sense than it is if somebody had submitted something that was very clear, made sense to argue. At least you know what you're arguing. AI is writing appeals that it's literally making up words. It's making up acronyms, it's making, oh yeah. In fact, there's a case that is out there now that was a case that was actually one my husband was handling initially. And he and the client just did not see eye to eye on what the options were. And based on the client's research on AI, kept coming back saying, I'm entitled to one, two, and three. And my husband would say, No, the law says you're entitled only to A and B. And here's how we're gonna fight for it. And A and B, by the way, is as much as one, two, and three if you'll just let me do my job. They ultimately decided to part ways. That former client submitted own appeal and own motions to the federal court, and they were rejected on the basis that nobody could read them because none of it made sense. There were words and acronyms that they were just created out of thin air. And it, I get it. Like I get wanting to do it yourself because you know, you who wants to pay a lawyer? I trust me, I know I'm a lawyer, I'm married to a lawyer, I'm pretty sure I'm raising a lawyer. So it's we get it. But we I cannot tell you how hard it is to have to tell someone, I'm sorry, I can't help you. I can't help you because you did your own appeal. And I cannot come back from the record you created. There, there's no options left here for me. And I, if you are going to do your own appeal, do not think that AI got it right because the rules are different per state. And you're not just dealing with a state issue, you're dealing with also with a federal issue. So you've got to consider state law, contract law, and federal law. And so AI doesn't do all of that for you to go in and say, okay, here's how all of these laws work together, here's what you've got to consider, and here's all of the things you need to make a good appeal. Please do not use AI to do an appeal.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

I think people use think it's it's great in its in its lane. In its lane. But yeah, that's a that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I've had some clients that I've got one in California that I just love. And she's a nurse. She missed a calling to be a lawyer. She did her own appeal and it wasn't perfect. But I I called her and I was like, I tell you what, if I ever need somebody to cheer for me, I'm gonna have you do it because she's feisty and she did as good of a job as anyone I ever could have expected. But what really helped in that case was she didn't use AI. She used she sat down and read everything and worked her way through it. And there were mistakes made, but there were mistakes made because she's not a lawyer. She could have been a darn good one, though. I'm just I'm proud of her, whether she wins or not, I'm proud of her.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Very interesting. This is this makes you take a step back and kind of think. No, if you knew so, say you're someone that's like in their early 60s and they haven't had life insurance, they're healthy. Would you suggest a whole life at this time or

Term Or Whole Life Later In Life

SPEAKER_02 27:27

a term? Or does it really depend on what the family background is?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Depends on the needs, depends on the financial circumstances. So if you're in your 60s and you've never had life insurance before, why are we suddenly looking into it? Because that's a that's an odd age to become interested in life insurance, because usually by that time you've got a fixed mindset on it. You either like it or you don't. So what prompted the look into that? And before we go get it, what other assets do you have? Are you looking at this life insurance to cover an expense that you're worried about if you were to pass away? And if that's true, what other assets do we have? Can we look at some other options to take care of that? If you just wanted to have life insurance because now you want to do something great for your grandkids, okay. Do you have the financial means to carry that expense? And some people do, and that's great. Just make sure we're getting it for the right purpose that we understand the expense, that we understand the term. If you're in your 60s and you get a term policy, I'd be looking at family history going, all right, how long do people live in your family? Do they die in their 70s? Do you have people that live to almost 100? Because if you get a 30-year term and you're in your 60s, I don't know if that's a good investment for you.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

I don't know. No, I had a friend that bought it in his 60s for inheritance tax. Ah, because it's late 50s, early 60s to take care of inheritance tax.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

That's a that's a different kind of problem. It is. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a problem we all wish we could stand up and say we had that money problem. But it just depends. And if he hadn't, if he had an inheritance issue, then he obviously had the funds to cover the cost of the insurance. I'm not an insurance salesman, but even though this is what I do, I still believe in it. I still love it. I still have the policies that I have. So I wouldn't tell someone to shy away from it. But I would say if you're going to get that at any age, have somebody that talks to you about it, ask good questions. And if you have an agent that gets frustrated by you asking questions, they are not your agent.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

No.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

They are not. You go find someone. And it's the same thing with your lawyer. Like sometimes lawyers will say, I only have 20 or 30 minutes to do this. But if you ask your questions, I'll answer them. Send them to me, I'll be prepared. Whether it's an agent or a lawyer, your CPA, whoever your professional is, if they get grumpy because you're asking questions or they don't have the time to answer your questions, they are not your person. And they never were. So many of the problems that I see, particularly so many of the problems that I see that I cannot fix, would have been so much more reasonable and easy to handle if someone had just answered questions. But you don't know what to ask, which you don't know.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

There are no print.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Yeah, yeah. It's I I told someone one time they're like, we paid our premiums, we this was supposed to pay out. And my explanation was what you don't understand is that life insurance does not pay simply because someone died. Life insurance pays because it survived a claims examination. All that fine print is that examination because they're gonna look at who the insured was. They're gonna look at the premiums where they paid timely, they're gonna look at the date of death, they're gonna look at the day the pre-the policy was bought, they're gonna look at the cause of death, the manner of death. They're gonna look at how many beneficiary changes were there when were they made properly? All of those things are an examination. Life insurance is not about paying because someone died. It's about paying because it actually survived the fine print examination.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

That answered my next question. So I really appreciate that. I know this has been an amazing conversation and a lot of great information. And obviously, people need to take a look and be more inquisitive when they're buying something like that and not jump to those phone calls whenever and being overly helpful when the insurance calls after a death of a loved one. I know our listeners are probably going to want to connect with you, ask you questions, reach out to you for help with their policies. Where's the best place for them to do that?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

So we have a wonderful website. It's lifeclaim.com. And on there is like a nice little form. You can it's very simple. You can fill it

How To Get Help And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 31:43

out, even if it's just one question, just name. Hopefully, you give a phone number because I tend to call people back personally, but a phone number, email, whatever works, and just give me an idea of what's going on. Either someone in our office or me, or sometimes both of us, we'll call back and say, okay, let's make sure we understand. Here's what we can do. If you don't want to go online, you can call us directly at 888-615-3270. And we'd be pleased to visit with you and see if we can help. And I had to say, one of the things that I love most about our firm, our practice is that even if we can't help you, we try to give you a nudge. Okay, maybe you need to call the Department of Insurance, or here's a place I would go look. And even if they don't like the answer, I'll tell you what the answer is and I'll tell you why. And you don't have to like it. And that's okay. And if you're gonna somebody recently, they did not like my answer, and I said, I know you don't like it. I know you're gonna do your own appeal. Here's what I'm gonna tell you to do. One, two, three, if you're gonna do it on your own. I wish you the best of luck. And if you win, I want you to call me up because I'm gonna send you a bottle of champagne because this is where I think you are, but I so appreciate the tenacity to follow through.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

I love that. I'll make sure that the website and the phone number are in the show notes. And Stephanie, again, this has been a great conversation. I really appreciate you coming onto the show today. Absolutely likewise. It's been such a treasure. Thank you. That's a wrap on today's episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. Before you go, I want to make sure that you know about something that could be a real game changer for your firm. If you've been doing the work, showing up, serving clients, but your marketing still isn't producing the caseload you know you deserve. That's exactly the problem Law Marketing Zone was built to solve. My team and I work exclusively with law firms, and we don't do cookie cutter. We build a strategy around your practice, your market, and your goals. More high-quality leads, better cases, less stress, and more profit. Head over to LawmarketingZone.com slash book a call and book your free case growth session today. The link is in the show notes. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next episode.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. Remember, you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the things of the past. Head over to our website at lawmarketingstone.com. From there, connect with other websites. Access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.