There is a New Jersey insurance law which allows a person who is 62 years of age or older to designate an authorized third party to receive Policy Lapse Notices and Late Payment notices from the policyholder’s insurance company. This is a regulation at N.J.A.C. 11:2-19. The process is easy. Many companies will provide you with their own form upon request. For others, just send a written statement, signed and notarized, to your insurance company by certified mail, return receipt requested, designating the person (plus phone number and address) to whom you want the company to send the extra notices. The third party designee needs to also sign that letter to show their willingness to accept these notices. This notice can be revoked by the policy holder by a written communication, and the third party can, of course, resign by sending a written resignation.
The benefit for aging folks is that if you forget to send in a payment on your insurance policy because you’ve been out of the house during a prolonged illness, or things get worse and a notice of Lapse/termination arrives at the house, you have the comfort of knowing that your third party designee will receive that mail also and can then help you solve the problem. Presumably, your Agent under Power of Attorney can then spring into action on your behalf to prevent the lapse, make the payment or initiate steps to reinstate a lapsed policy. No matter what, the third party designee does not become personally liable merely because they agree to receive a copy of these notices.
Careful planning can prevent a crisis. Better to have another person on your elder care team who can receive a copy of such urgent mailings, than have to try to undo the damage later on when it may be too late.
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