Dormant life policies
Dormant life assurance policies are those policies that have not been collected by the beneficiaries and lie dormant at insurance undertakings until they become time-barred. These may be either policies on the death of the insured, of which beneficiaries were not aware, or savings policies which, upon maturity, were not collected for various reasons.
How long do you have to claim the benefits?
The rights arising from life policies are barred after 10 years from the event:
• death of the insured;
• contract maturity.
After that deadline undertakings must assign the relative amounts to the Dormant Accounts Fund set up within CONSAP.
The time limit of 10 years applies to the events occurred after 20 October 2010.
How can you check if a deceased family member had underwritten a life policy?
IVASS suggests two ways:
1) contact the "Search service for life insurance policies" of ANIA ( the National Association of Insurance Undertakings) which allows applicants (for example the spouse of a deceased person) to send insurance undertakings - free of charge - a request for information on the existence of life policies, with the same undertakings, relating to allegedly insured deceased persons.
The search verifies if the name of the applicant is among the names of the beneficiaries of the policy. Therefore, we suggest to make searches for each potential beneficiary. For example: if the deceased family member was the father of two children, it is advisable that both the wife and each of the two children request the search, so as to expand its scope.
2) contact the insurance intermediary, the bank or the insurance undertaking the family member was a customer of, asking for information – ideally in writing - on the existence of the policy. Download a facsimile request. This information can also be requested from the contact points available on the websites of Italian insurance undertakings.
For any further information and assistance you can call IVASS’ Consumer Contact Centre at the free phone number 800486661, from Monday to Friday 8.30 to 14.30
Tips to follow when underwriting a contract to facilitate the collection of benefits by beneficiaries.
When you take out a life policy it is for pension or saving purposes, thinking about your future and that of your loved ones.
To be sure that the beneficiaries receive the amounts due it is advisable to mention them with their own name, without using general indications (such as for example legitimate heirs, spouse, children and the unborn….) and provide the undertaking with all the information (address, telephone number and/or e-mail address) necessary to contact them in case of death of the insured.
If you do not want that the beneficiaries become aware of the existence of the policy in advance, it may be useful to inform a third party who can inform the beneficiaries when the insured event occurs.
Last update
8 February 2024
IVASS THEMATIC REVIEWS AND INITIATIVES
- Dormant life policies - The 'awakened' policies pdf 511.1 KB
- Dormant life insurance policies. Collection of information on the payment of policies to the beneficiaries pdf 254.1 KB Letter to the market of 25 January 2024
- Dormant policies - Instructions for accessing the National Database of Residents via the National Digital Data Platform (PDND) (only in It) pdf 318.8 KB Letter to the market of 22 November 2023
- Dormant policies - Inquiry on the payment of policies to the beneficiaries pdf 238.2 KB Letter to the market of 16 March 2023
- Dormant Life policies - New cross-check insureds' tax codes against the Tax Register pdf 576.3 KB Letter to the market of 6 December 2022
- Dormant Life policies - New cross-check insureds' tax codes against the Tax Register pdf 541.8 KB Letter to the market of 13 December 2021
- Dormant policies (only in Italian) pdf 493.7 KB Hearing of Secretary General Stefano De Polis at Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the Banking and Financial System
- Dormant policies: data cross-check has been completed (only in Italian) pdf 194.2 KB
- Dormant Life policies - New cross-check insureds’ tax codes against the Tax Register pdf 547.4 KB Letter to the market of 13 October 2020
- Investigation into foreign dormant life assurance policies pdf 1000.5 KB
- EEA insurance undertakings operating in Italy - new regulations on dormant life assurance policies pdf 208.2 KB Letter to the market of 1st April 2019
- Thematic review on dormant life policies - "awakening" of dormant policies (update of 31 January 2019) pdf 306.6 KB
- Outcome of the checks on the tax codes of insureds of potentially dormant policies zip 397.6 KB Letter to the market of 3/12/2018
- Dormant life assurance policies. Investigation update. zip 101.6 KB Letter to the market of 26/09/2018
- Investigation into dormant life assurance policies. EEA undertakings operating in Italy zip 242.2 KB Letter to the market of 25/09/2018
- Dormant life assurance policies. New cross-check on tax codes against the Tax Register pdf 98.4 KB Letter to the market of 03/09/2018
- Thematic review on dormant life policies - "awakening" of dormant policies pdf 284.0 KB
- Outcome of the checks on the fiscal codes of potentially dormant insureds pdf 29.2 KB Letter to the market of 06/04/2018
- Dormant life assurance policies. Request to undertakings to submit an action plan pdf 225.2 KB Letter to the market of 29/12/2017
- Dormant life policies. Request for the policyholders’ fiscal codes to check deaths zip 351.5 KB Letter to the market of 14/12/2017
- Thematic review on dormant life assurance policies pdf 641.7 KB
- Dormant life assurance policies - Tips for consumers pdf 34.5 KB
- Thematic review on “dormant” life policies zip 168.2 KB Letter to the market of 8/2/2017
Application for the search of life insurance covers
Press releases
- Other awakened policies: 335 million euro for the beneficiaries pdf 141.1 KB
- IVASS awakens dormant life assurance policies: 3.5 billion paid to policyholders pdf 140.8 KB
- IVASS has found 153,000 cases of possible dormant life policies thanks to the checks in the taxpayers' database on 6.9 million tax codes pdf 30.3 KB
- Dormant policies: new initiative by IVASS for consumer protection pdf 86.0 KB
- Dormant life assurance policies: IVASS requests undertakings to submit an action plan for customer protection pdf 97.8 KB
- IVASS publishes the results of the thematic review on dormant life assurance policies pdf 101.8 KB
- Dormant life policies: IVASS suggests two ways to check if a deceased family member had underwritten a life policy pdf 90.8 KB
- IVASS launches a thematic review on “dormant” life policies pdf 133.0 KB
- Dormant life assurance policies: IVASS extends the investigation pdf 81.7 KB