Someone will call, and the person calling is usually a tracking agent working for the investor who now owns the policy, not the insurance company and not the broker who handled your sale. The purpose of the call is narrow: confirm the insured is living, and keep a current address and phone number on file. It is not a health interview and you are not required to discuss medical details.
Families are rarely warned about this properly at closing, so the first call lands as a shock. A stranger asks for your mother by name, says they are calling about her life insurance, and asks her to confirm she is well. She thinks it is a scam. Sometimes she hangs up, and then the calls increase, which makes it feel worse.
The fix is administrative and it takes about an hour if you do it in the right order. Below is what to do in the first 72 hours after a sale closes, or right now if the calls have already started, and then what to put in place over the following month. Statutory limits below reflect the NAIC model framework as of 2026; confirm your own state’s version with the state department of insurance.
In This Article
- Hour One: Confirm Who Is Actually Calling
- Hours 1 to 24: Know What the Frequency Limits Actually Are
- Hours 24 to 72: Designate a Contact and Put It in Writing
- Week One: Understand Why the Buyer Needs This at All
- Week Two: The Privacy Boundary, and What You Do Not Have to Provide
- Where the Policy Question Stands Now, and What Not to Do
- The Setup That Makes This a Non-Event
- Frequently Asked Questions
Hour One: Confirm Who Is Actually Calling
Before answering any question, get three things from the caller: the company name, a callback number, and the name of the provider or investor they represent. Then verify independently rather than by calling the number they gave you.
Pull the closing package and find the purchase agreement and the escrow documents. They name the provider, and often name the servicing or tracking company. Call the number in those documents, not the number from the caller. If your state licenses life settlement providers and brokers, and most do, the department of insurance can confirm whether the company holds a license.
Legitimate verification contact never involves asking for a Social Security number, a bank account number, a payment of any kind, or a new signature on a form you have not seen. Anyone requesting those things should be reported to the state department of insurance and, if money is involved, to local law enforcement. Our page on scam red flags lists the patterns.
What a tracking agent may legitimately ask: is the insured living, is the mailing address current, and is the contact person still correct. That is close to the whole list.
Hours 1 to 24: Know What the Frequency Limits Actually Are
This is the fact most families are never told and it changes the tone of every subsequent call.
Under the NAIC Life Settlements Model Act framework, which most states have adopted in some version, contact with the insured for the purpose of determining health status is limited. The common formulation permits contact no more than once every three months for an insured with a life expectancy of more than one year, and no more than once per month for an insured with a life expectancy of one year or less. As of 2026, confirm the exact limit written into your state’s insurance code with the state department of insurance, because states vary.
If contact is exceeding those limits, you have a specific and checkable complaint rather than a general grievance. Write down every call: date, time, company, caller name. A log of nine calls in six weeks is a document a regulator can act on. A complaint that says they call too much is not.
Also note who may be contacted. The tracking company generally contacts the insured or a person the insured designated. It should not be calling neighbors, employers, or adult children who were never designated.
Hours 24 to 72: Designate a Contact and Put It in Writing
This is the single step that ends most of the problem. Send a short written notice to the provider or servicing company naming a designated contact person, with that person’s phone number, email and mailing address, and stating that verification contact should be directed to them.
Choose the contact deliberately. It should be someone who answers the phone, checks mail reliably, and will not be alarmed by the call. For a household where the insured has cognitive impairment or is in a facility, the designated contact should be the adult child or agent under a power of attorney who handles the paperwork, not the insured.
Send it in a form that produces proof of delivery and keep the copy. Then confirm by phone that it has been entered in the file and ask for the reference number. Ask two more questions while you have them: how often will contact occur, and by what method, phone, mail or email? Get the answer in writing.
If the household has a habit of ignoring unknown numbers, ask for contact by mail instead. Written verification requests are common and avoid the entire caller-identity problem.
| Question | Short answer | Who to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Who is calling? | A tracking agent for the policy’s current owner | Provider named in your closing package |
| How often may they call? | Typically quarterly, or monthly for short life expectancies | State department of insurance |
| Must the insured answer medical questions? | No; verification confirms living status and address | Your signed HIPAA authorization |
| Can someone else take the calls? | Yes, by designating a contact in writing | Provider or servicing company |
| Who pays premiums now? | The buyer, from closing forward | Purchase agreement |
| Contact seems excessive | Log it and file a written complaint | State department of insurance |
Week One: Understand Why the Buyer Needs This at All
Knowing the reason reduces the sense of intrusion, and it also explains why the calls will not simply stop.
The investor’s return depends on two things: how long premiums must be paid, and when the death benefit is collected. A death that goes unreported means premiums continue to be paid on a policy that has already matured, and it can mean a claim filed late. Investors and funds therefore contract with tracking companies to maintain contact and to monitor public death records.
This is also why the calls continue for as long as the policy is owned, and why they may come from a different company over time. Policies are bought and sold between funds, servicers change, and each change brings a new letter of introduction. That is normal, though every new company should be verified the same way as the first.
Background on the parties involved: what a tracking agent does, what a life settlement fund is, and what a life expectancy provider does during the original underwriting.
Week Two: The Privacy Boundary, and What You Do Not Have to Provide
At closing, the seller signs a HIPAA authorization permitting release of medical information to the buyer and its agents. That authorization has terms, including a scope and, in many cases, an expiration or a right of revocation. Find your copy and read it.
What follows from that: a verification-of-life contact is not a medical interview. You are not required to discuss diagnoses, medications, or prognosis on a phone call, and a caller pressing for that information is exceeding the ordinary purpose of the contact. If the buyer needs updated medical records, it should be requesting them through the authorization from providers, not interrogating the insured.
Life settlement statutes in most states also contain confidentiality provisions restricting disclosure of the insured’s identity and health information without authorization. If you believe personal information has been disclosed improperly, that belongs in a written complaint to the state department of insurance.
Keep in mind the practical asymmetry: the buyer needs the household’s cooperation. A designated contact who responds to one letter a year is far less trouble for everyone than a household that avoids the calls.
Where the Policy Question Stands Now, and What Not to Do
Once a policy has been sold, the household no longer owns it and cannot sell it again, cannot change its beneficiary, and is not responsible for its premiums. Those obligations moved to the buyer at closing. If a premium notice arrives at your address after the sale, forward it to the provider and confirm receipt; do not pay it and do not ignore it. See what happens to a policy after it is sold.
Two things families sometimes attempt that create real problems. Do not refuse all contact indefinitely; unanswered verification often escalates into more contact, not less. And do not attempt to reacquire the policy through an informal arrangement with a caller; any repurchase would be a transaction requiring documentation and legal review.
If another policy is still owned by the household, keep it separate in your mind and in your files. A separate in-force policy still has premiums to pay, a beneficiary to keep current, and its own options: keep it, reduce the face amount, use an accelerated death benefit rider, surrender it, or explore a sale. Selling is the wrong answer for a small burial policy, for a policy a surviving spouse relies on, and for a healthy insured, since buyers will not pay a useful price.
Living well past a life expectancy estimate is common and is not a problem you created. Our page on being here years after selling the policy covers what that means for the household.
Pine Lake Legacy does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. A free policy review is education about what your remaining contracts say, not an offer, and nothing here is legal advice.
The Setup That Makes This a Non-Event
Households that never think about these calls again have all done the same five things.
1. One folder, physical or digital, holding the purchase agreement, the escrow statement, the provider’s name and number, and the HIPAA authorization.
2. A designated contact on file with the provider, in writing, with a delivery receipt.
3. A one-line note taped inside a kitchen cabinet: the company name that may call and the fact that the calls are expected. This single step prevents most of the panic.
4. A preference on file for mail rather than phone, if the household prefers that.
5. A call log with dates, kept in the same folder, so that if contact ever exceeds the statutory limits you can prove it.
If the insured moves, especially into assisted living or a nursing facility, notify the provider in writing within the first week. Address changes are the most common reason contact escalates, and a facility address on file usually reduces call frequency rather than increasing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a verification-of-life call a scam?
Usually not, but verify before you engage. Get the company name and reference number, then call the provider listed in your own closing package rather than the number the caller gives you. Genuine verification contact never asks for a Social Security number, a bank account, a payment, or a new signature. If any of those come up, report it to your state department of insurance.
How often are they allowed to contact the insured?
Under the NAIC model framework used by most states, contact is generally limited to once every three months when life expectancy exceeds one year, and once a month when it is one year or less. Your state’s code sets the operative rule as of 2026, so confirm it with the state department of insurance and keep a dated log if the calls exceed it.
Can my daughter handle the calls instead of my mother?
Yes. Send the provider or servicing company a written designation naming the contact person with their phone, email and address, and ask for confirmation that it has been entered in the file. This is the single most effective step, particularly when the insured has cognitive impairment or lives in a facility where phone calls create confusion.
What happens if we simply do not respond?
Contact usually escalates rather than stopping, because the owner has a financial reason to confirm status. Non-response can bring letters, additional calls within the permitted frequency, and third-party record searches. Responding once a year through a designated contact is far less intrusive than avoidance, and it keeps the relationship routine.
Do we still owe premiums after the sale?
No. Premium responsibility transfers to the buyer at closing, which is one of the main reasons households sell in the first place. If a premium notice still arrives at your address, forward it to the provider and confirm they received it, but do not pay it. Check your purchase agreement for the exact date the obligation transferred.
The company calling is not the one we sold to. Is that normal?
Yes. Policies are commonly transferred between funds and servicing companies, and each change generally brings a letter of introduction. Verify the new company the same way you verified the first: get the name and reference, then confirm with the original provider or through your state department of insurance before sharing anything.
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Related Reading
- What Is Verification Of Coverage
- What Is A Tracking Agent
- What Is A Life Settlement Fund
- What Is A Life Expectancy Provider
- What Happens To My Policy After I Sell It
- Still Here Years After Selling The Policy
- Life Settlement Scams Red Flags
- What Is A Life Settlement
Pine Lake Legacy does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.