The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Stephie Prestridge on The Dark Side of Life Insurance: How to Fight Back Against Denials

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Stephie Prestridge on The Dark Side of Life Insurance: How to Fight Back Against Denials Lifeclaim.com About the Guest(s): Stephie Prestridge is an accomplished attorney and the founder of LifeClaim, a law practice that focuses exclusively on life insurance disputes. With a background in estate planning, Stephie Prestridge transitioned to life insurance after witnessing families struggle with the complexities of policy language and beneficiary designations. Her firm represents beneficiaries in cases involving delayed, denied, and disputed life insurance claims, and she is passionate about helping families secure the benefits they are entitled to receive. Episode Summary: Join host Chris Voss as he delves into the complex world of life insurance claims with Stephie Prestridge, a specialized attorney in life insurance disputes. As the founder of LifeClaim, Stephie Prestridge brings her legal expertise to the discussion, highlighting the often unseen challenges families face when dealing with life insurance claims. Through engaging anecdotes and insightful legal strategies, this episode sheds light on how beneficiaries can navigate the murky waters of insurance claims to ensure justice. In this enlightening episode, Steffy shares her knowledge on why life insurance isn’t as simple as it seems and discusses the “fine print” that often leads to denied claims. With terms like “contestability period” and the implications of improper beneficiary designations, she emphasizes the importance of understanding policy contracts. Chris and Stephie Prestridge explore the legal tools available to beneficiaries, the pervasive issue of insurance companies attempting to avoid payouts, and the emotional toll these disputes take on families. Key Takeaways: Life insurance claims don’t automatically pay out after death; they must survive a claims review process. The “contestability period” allows insurance companies to review and potentially deny claims within the first two years of a policy. Consultations with law firms like LifeClaim can provide crucial support and guidance when dealing with life insurance disputes. Miscommunication and incorrect beneficiary designations often lead to claims disputes, highlighting the need for regular policy reviews. Life insurance policies often fund lawsuits due to complex family dynamics and unresolved issues after someone’s passing. Notable Quotes: “Life insurance does not pay out because someone passed away; it pays out because it survived a claims review.” “If they said no, let’s go. ‘No’ is just leverage, not the end of the road.” “Death and money change people, and unresolved relationships can ignite after someone dies.” “If someone has a claim that’s being delayed for whatever reason, that’s a great time to ask for help.” “Know that you have this information available to you.”

You wanted the best... You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. In the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready.

Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education role. rollercoaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. The host is Voss here from The Chris Voss Show. Duh! A little bit of the earliest things that makes it official.

Welcome to 16 years and 2,800 episodes of the Chris Vos show. We're one of the oldest podcasts still regularly broadcasting and doing our things. We just been doing this forever because we love what a great audience we have. Be sure to refer this show to your family, friends, relatives. Opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Voss show. Some guests to the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it's not an endorsement or review of any kind. Today we have an amazing young lady on the show. We're going to be talking about her wonderful insights to some of the things she does.

But as always, refer the show to your family, friends, and relatives. Goodreads.com, Fortress, Christch, Christvost, Facebook.com, fordsts, Christfuss, LinkedIn.com, Fortressch, Christfoss, and YouTube.com, for it says Chris Voss. She is the young lady we've talked about today. Steffie Prestridge is an attorney and founder of life claim, a law, practice focused exclusively on life insurance disputes. She represents beneficiaries and cases involving delayed, denied, and contested claims from employer-sponsored heiress plans to complex family conflicts and fraud investigations. Originally practicing estate planning, share work involved after witnessing

how many families assume life insurance is simple, only discover that policy language, dead lands and beneficiary designations can override intent. She now helps families navigate what happens when the promise of life insurance is tested. Welcome to the show, Steffi. How are you? I'm doing well, Chris. Thank you so much for asking. Thanks for coming. Give us your dot coms. Where do you want people to know you on the interwebs? So our website is lifeclaim.com and they can reach us on that or they can reach us by phone at 888615-3-2-6.7. or they can email me and I'm directly accessible through our website just to send in a question and it'll come straight to me. All right.

So give us a 30,000 over you. What you guys do there? So Life Claim is a firm that is dedicated to getting life insurance claims and accidental death and dismemberhip claims paid after an insured passes away. What people don't know is a lot of times when someone passes away, those life insurance benefits can be challenged or questioned by the life insurance company so they can be denied, they can be delayed, they can be disputed. And it's so unexpected because this is a promise that people have paid on for years and they're expecting it to come through to provide that protection

and that comfort. And then when they're told that it's being investigated or that it's being denied or there's a delay in receiving it, it's just overwhelming. Our job is just to help you know, beneficiaries in those situations to be able to recover the benefits they're entitled to receive. Yeah. It seems like the big thing with insurance companies now is they don't want to pay out when they got to pay. They love taking your checks. They have no problem taking the money. It's very easy to pay the premium. It's not as easy to receive the benefits. And I think what's a fair way to look at it is a lot of people look at life insurance kind of like a light switch where you pay the premiums and then when someone passes away, the benefits just going to turn on and pay out.

And what they don't realize is that life insurance does not pay out because someone passed away. It pays out because it survived a claims review. And no one's expecting that. No one's told they're going to review your claim that they're going to look at, you know, at the policy status. They're going to look at your medical records. They're going to look at the beneficiaries. They're going to look at any changes or any circumstances that are suspicious in, you know, updating documents or in your death.

A life insurance policy or an accidental death policy pays out because it survived a claim review, not because someone passed away. How often are these reviewed? Is there a percentage or a guesstimate that you could say? That is actually a great question. And the reason it's great is because there's not a really good answer. There are over 100 million policies just through work-related benefits programs. Over 51% of Americans have a life insurance policy, and those numbers are growing.

A significant growth just in January alone, more people are becoming insured. And we know that that growth in having them and owning them is rising, but we really are not given any of the statistics because only the insurance company would have those statistics on How many are denied? How many are delayed while they do that process? How many are disputed? We can look at what's filed in court, but not all of them end up in court. So the statistics are hard to provide. Yeah, you think they'd want to provide them so that people wouldn't know. No, I think they don't want to provide them. So people, we bank on what's simple, right? We bank on what makes sense because it's a promise.

And I have found that life insurance is like, it's like another member of the family because most people have had it for a long time. They relied on it. It gave them peace or comfort knowing I've done this to take care of bills or I've done this to take care of family and provide as I want to provide. And then when it's gone, the loss is not just devastating financially. it's devastating because so many people feel like you're devaluing the person who die. Yeah.

It's heartbreaking. Yeah. Yeah. The, yeah, is there any, I don't know if you can say this, but I mean, is there any life insurance, big companies that, like, are bad or maybe, maybe someone, does someone cover this? Maybe where we can look it up on the air. So, I would, my husband has his top 10, his, his, his lease. and his favorites. Yes, he would give that list. I don't, I don't, I, I, probably shouldn't give it on the air. You

don't want to get sued. Then you'd have to hire an attorney. Oh, well, yeah, nobody wants to hire an attorney unless it's me, which is the best attorneys, of course. So this is pretty interesting. You know, we've had a lot of doctors and attorneys who work with medical claims and stuff. And they said one of the big problems they're seeing is a lot of these companies are just building so many, I don't know what you call them, back doors or ways out into policies that they can literally deny a claim based on just about anything. Like they just basically build the language in the contract to be deniable in any way possible. And it's just, that's fair. Yeah. And what makes it so sad, though, is when when people are getting these policies, it's so easy to get them,

right? And they feel like they're buying that promise. And it's really, what it is. And I can say that as not just as a lawyer, but as someone who actually, I have life insurance. I believe in it. I have it for me. I have it for my children, for my husband. So I did buy into that promise. What they, what many people don't understand, and you said it perfectly, is that what we're really buying, though, is a contract. And we're buying a contract with, with clauses, with provisions that affect how that promise is paid out, when it's paid out. And that's not explained very well. Yeah, yeah. You know, I never bought in life insurance because I watched too many TV shows where people are trying to cash in. And of course, I don't have

a wife and kids, so I don't have a family behind. Even if I did, I'd be like, hey, you offended for yourself before you met me. You'll be fine. But, you know, I mean, now I have a whole new excuse not to buy life insurance. I'll be like, yeah, I don't pay out anyway most of the time. Well, that's, you know, I appreciate that. But, you know, we have a saying here in our office. If they said no, let's go. Because no is just leverage. That is not the end of the road. If they said no, there's a reason that they said no. And that does not mean you quit. Ask for help. It's free to ask for help. Just ask for help to see what are your options. What can you do? And know that there are more steps. that you can take to recover those benefits that you were entitled to receive. Now, I see in your website, you've got copies of checks that have been paid out in cases that you guys have brought in people's loss. Now, it says here, enter your zip code to see if you life claim supports your area.

Are you guys nationwide? So we're nationwide. And we love this. I love this about our practice because your address doesn't matter. I think there's a lot of still localized belief where you have to use the attorney down the road or a local attorney. And it just doesn't work that way, particularly not in this practice. We have handled cases in every single state, though I will say I'm still waiting for the trial in Hawaii. We have yet to have one in Hawaii.

Okay. But planning a vacation or something soon? Well, I'm just saying when we go to win, I would like to also then stay and enjoy that win. So it's just a wonderful practice because it's nationwide. A lot of it is in federal court. And in fact, federal courts do a lot of their hearings by Zoom these days. So your address doesn't matter because you're not limited just to counsel in that area. And this is such a niche practice that there's not a lot of attorneys who specialize in this.

Oh, well, you can call them on Zoom to courts now. Maybe I'll get in some federal trouble. Okay, some of them. Okay, not all. Some of them. All right, note to self, commit crimes in areas where you can zoom in for federal court. We should talk about which crimes you're planning to commit. Let's have fun.

I mean, planned or done? I'm not sure what. Anyway, I'm just doing around. So this is pretty interesting. So people can go on your website. I can see that you have two sections here. If you just lost a loved one, you can get a free consultation. Let me ask you this is how you approach the insurance companies when your person passes?

that can sometimes make a difference? Do they maybe size you up and go, oh, we might be able to get one over on this person, not pay them? Or does it make a difference? Does it help with maybe an attorney context in first like you guys? So I feel like it's easy to assume that they're sizing you up. In fact, my true secret is that I love to reread it, right? And I love it because it really shows like the status of how families and individuals

are approaching their problems and how they're feeling about these circumstances. And if you want to know how they're feeling about life insurance companies or life insurance in general, just go on to Reddit and type in life insurance. And it's amazing what you'll find there. And there is a huge consensus among, you know, anyone who's writing in or clients who call me and they're saying, were they sizing me up? Were they looking at how much the policy was for? were they looking at my address and where I live?

Are they taking advantage of me? And the answer is they may be taking advantage of you, but not for that particular reason. What they are looking at is, you know, when was this policy bought? You know, where the premiums paid, you know, who are the beneficiaries? Was everything done the way we want? And they use different clauses like the contestability period. That's a two-year period after you buy a policy. yeah, for two years after you buy a policy, even though you qualified, they did the medical.

You qualified for that policy for two years. If you die within the first two years of that policy, they have the right to go back and check all of your medical records. And that's where they're really looking into to say, hey, wait, did you maybe not understand one of those medical questions? Well, now you, if you had answered it differently, we wouldn't have provided you coverage, so we won't pay. And they don't care if you're deserving. They're just looking for the contract. What are the contract provisions?

People don't know to think about that. People don't know that if they miss a premium and then they get their policy reinstated. You know what else you reinstated? That two-year contestability period. And I've had so many people call and say, we just didn't understand the question. And it hurts, right? because you're trying to tell the truth. You're trying to do the right thing. And now you've got to

fight for it. And it's just, it's just a process that no one understands that, you know, they may be looking at things. You just don't understand why they're looking at them. I've seen online questions where, you know, people were saying, you know, are they looking at it because of, you know, how much money we have? We tried to do everything right. Here's my favorite. And I actually have a case like this. A person had a life insurance policy died two months before the two-year contestability period ended. Person was murdered.

Okay. It's awful. And the life insurance company says, no, we're going to do a contestable review to make sure that that person answered all over their medical questions properly. Because even though they died by murder, which is not something that would be a health problem we were looking for. It's definitely not health. Right.

It kind of is. Well, it's a different kind of health problem. But because you passed away within those two years, we're going to go back and see if we can find a basis to deny it. Another thing we're seeing are when someone passes, family members or beneficiaries will get a phone call. And this is there, it feels like they're trying to do a good thing because somebody's calling saying, hey, we wanted to let you know.

we received your claim documents. We understand that this person has passed. We're so sorry for your loss. What happened? And they'll start talking to you. And we've had people who talked about, oh, man, yeah, went outside and, you know, whatever happened or, you know, like, gosh, you know, he had his first cigarette in 15 years and then, you know, passed away.

Well, you're just talking, right? Because somebody's listening. Yeah. And they're taking notes. and those are now the basis is for them denying a claim. Wow. And you think you're a good status, you've done the right thing. You know, this person is paid into it.

That's just extraordinary. Again, do you think it would be good to hire an attorney to do the first contact for claiming on a life insurance thing? I'm one of those people I could throw down a big stick first. And because I just, you know, what's that old line? the sometimes people mistake niceties for someone who can be taken advantage when you're just being nice. And they can do that with a free consultation on your website if they just lost a loved one. And here's the other point I was going to bring up when you're talking. Not only are they getting this call and they're being played and ask all these questions that can,

they can, you know, they can just find a reason why they want to deny the claim. But you're going through grief. So you're already very vulnerable as it is, right? Yes. It's overwhelming when you read, whether it's an email sent to me or something that's posted online, I think the words that people use are powerful. And so I've seen I'm spiraling in confusion. I'm suffering from grief or double grief because my mom and then my dad passed away. I shouldn't have to become a part-time lawyer to get what my family member deserved. I am overwhelmed and don't know the right thing to do. These are the words that we see all day, every day. And when you ask, do you need a lawyer at the beginning? Absolutely, you could call and ask.

And we have a good policy here where I'll listen or whoever answers the phone, whether it's me or one of our other attorneys, tell us what's going on. And if you want somebody to help you file the claim, we will be pleased to do that. But we will also be pleased to tell you, look, based on everything you're telling me, I don't think you have an issue right now. File it on your own. If something comes up, I'm right here. We'll pick up and help because we want people to know, like, you have this information available to you. We're not here to take advantage.

We're here to make sure that you understand what the process is and what we can do to help. And if you're in a good place, we're comfortable telling you that. Oh, wow. The, no, there's another thing that happens, it seems, is that sometimes payouts go to X wives or X, X, X, X partners. And what is what's going on there? Man, those are fun. So the divorce decree says one thing. The beneficiary designation says another.

And if you thought that was bad enough, then we have to step back and say, well, what does state law provide? What does federal law provide? How does that affect where you live and where the policy was issued? how did you get the policy? All of these little pieces make a huge difference. And so it depends on what kind of policy you've gotten and how you got it. And did you name your ex-spouse and fail to change it? How does that work? Does your state have laws that automatically revokes that once you get divorced? It can be a disaster. And then you've got ones where it's not even just the ex-spouse. A lot of times you'll have where in a divorce, an ex-spouse is required.

to keep so much life insurance for the children. Oh, yeah. And we've actually seen this one where the spouse, the ex-spouse, was required to keep over a million dollars in life insurance for that child. At some point, he went and changed it to include other children that were born after the divorce. When he passed away, that's when the mother of the beneficiary realized other people had been named.

And she had to fight to go get what her. daughter was entitled to. And it's, it's interesting because you can see this huge divide between, you know, moral expectation and legal reality. And it's just a massive divide right there because everyone thinks they're entitled. Everyone believes that they're right. And that placement compared to contractual reality, that's, it's just always so different. And you have to know, what are your rights? How do you pursue those rights? Yeah. How do you maintain them? Yeah. That's wild, man. I can't imagine.

You're just like the person maybe you don't like very much. Some people don't like their ex-s folks. Sorry to let you know, let you in on the secret. But yeah, it's like, you know, suddenly you're paying about, I don't know, half a million dollars out of your life insurance thing. But, I mean, you're gone. So, I don't know, maybe it's a better thing. Hopefully.

We litigated one not too long ago where an ex-spouse failed to update their beneficiary for a very, very long time and passed away and, you know, everybody has good arguments, right? Well, obviously that person intended for their ex-spouse to receive because they never changed it. And, you know, the other side says, well, wait, most people are looking at, okay, I went through this whole paperwork process with the divorce. I thought that took care of it because the judgment says what happens. And they don't realize that there's just extra steps, right? So you have the judgment in a divorce, and now we have to look at, did we update our beneficiary

designations? Did we send information to the life insurance company? All that extra paperwork, the heavy lifting. It matters. Wow. It says here from the notes you sent over, over half of the U.S. adults have life insurance coverage. That seems like a low amount. Shouldn't it be like, I don't know.

Anybody's got a family kind of needs it, doesn't they? I would agree. When I read those statistics, I was also kind of shocked that it was only 50 1%. However, I did go back and double check, and those numbers are rising. So in January alone, I think, you know, buying term insurance, I think there was a 26% increase in that. Whole life insurance was a 15 or 16% increase. And then Universal Life, I want to say I had like over a 30% increase in purchase for all kinds of different reasons, I'm sure. But there is a, there is, there seems to be more movement and having those policies.

One of COVID helped to kind of drive that. People probably realized they were underinsured and, you know, I mean, COVID was a crazy time. It was, you know, you were like, I don't know if I, you know, even my male friends, we started saying, I love you after we had in calls with each other because we didn't know if you were going to see them again. And you couldn't go to the hospital or call them in the hospital. Anyway, so one of the other things I wanted to ask you about is you, there's a thing here in a line that you have, life insurance doesn't fund fun funerals. It funds lawsuits.

Right? Way to go with me, gold star for that one. You should put that on a coffee cup or something. I don't know. On a coffee cup. I wrote that down because I started my practice as an estate attorney. So my original focus was helping when someone was planning to die. So did you do your will?

Did you do your trust? Did you do your powers of attorney? I was always there when people were looking to get things together. and make a plan. And what I found is that death and money change people. And I have had the honor of working with just amazing people over my career. And I love my clients. Like, I actually mean it.

Like, I love my clients. I have the best clients. And it was, it was awakening for me to realize that you can have these amazing families and know who they are and plan for who they are. And then when someone passes, death. and money change people. And maybe the real change is that you had this personality or this life that really set a tone or set a rhythm for your family and now that person's gone so everything's changed.

And when death and money occur at the same time, you have to couple it with all of these other factors. You have grief. If you have any unresolved relationships, we have just set them on fire because now we have grief, we have death, we have property and money, and we have an unresolved issue. you and we are going to fight to the death for it. It's just one of those things that it shouldn't come out of the blue. I think for some people it does because they're just thinking, well, the paper took care of

itself or I had time to take care of this. Those are the biggest and most expensive assumptions anyone can possibly make. And so when that all comes together, you just funded a lawsuit because now we've got grief, we've got confusion, we've got money, we've got all of these things. coming together and somebody feels entitled and they don't know what the rules are. We just started a lawsuit over that. Wow. So you guys do that work as well.

Well, we don't start the lawsuit. We go in and help the families. Well, we can start the lawsuit. But the idea is to know that that's an issue and that, you know, when people start fighting, there's a process to go in and stop it and resolve it or file a lawsuit if you have to. Maybe you can have one of those clauses. Do those clauses ever work they put in will? where they say if you guys start fighting over this stuff and suing each other, nobody gets anything.

I put that in every single, I put that in every single will that I have drafted, any will that I will draft in the future. It's there. It's in the South we say you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit. I love these southern axioms. You know, and I didn't even know that. I thought it was kind of like, well, it may it works or something. I don't know. But because, you know, people can, well, as you know, being an attorney, people can sue or fight over just anything.

And it is sad and interesting. I own a mortgage company for 20 years. And what I would see people do to each other many times alive, you know, they kick grandma out of the house and put her in a home. And they're like, yeah, we got a, we got to, you know, cash out grandma's house and we're putting her in the home. And, you know, there's $30,000 of equity in there. We really want. And we can sell a few other things. And you're like, you know, I've been talking to grandma because she's on the loan or she's, you know, whatever.

We got her sign on the title. She doesn't seem like she needs to be in a rest home. It seems like you really need $25,000, $30,000, which isn't a lot when it really, how can they, I almost said it's, it's, it's not, it's not enough to throw away a person, but what is an amount? So that's kind of set me up wrong. It depends on where you are, your circumstances. I had a very nice person call me last week. I couldn't help them. But I, you know, I talked to them and I told them, I was like, I can't help you with this.

And I'm going to tell you why I can't help you with this. And they just kept saying $20,000 would be life-changing money for me right now. And it was just heartbreaking to hear that and understandable. But, yeah, it just depends on where you are. Yeah. And, you know, the one thing I've learned in being business on my life since 18 is you never know what kind of partners you have until the money gets on the table. And that's when you kind of find out who you're dealing with.

Exactly. And also fair. And, you know, then you find out. And for me, I've always been a business owner. I've had millions of dollars in my bank for companies. I've had, you know, I've always had lots of money. It's not that I'm filthy rich or anything, but, you know, I've always been exposed to having money. I've been very comfortable having, you know, okay, our company is a multimillion-dollar business,

has got all this money, it's bank, it's dealing with all this stuff. You know, usually we have huge payrolls and everything else, but we're used to being around large amounts of money. And I've always been a wealth creator where I can create businesses and make money. So I kind of am tuned out a little bit. Like if somebody says, hey, there's a payout on some claim for $50,000. I'll be like, well, that's great. Don't last me about a week. But no, it's...

I love you. Some people, we probably shopped the same places. Probably do. So, so you see these people and just a small amount of money, they want to kill each other over $30,000. I remember one of my galley dated for a while. She took care of the mother. The other sister, you know, hated the mother and was,

actually trying to kind of seem like do things to destabilize the mother to try to get her to pass sooner. And her mother was on auction and stuff. And they had, she had $50,000 in equity. And man, they figured out some way to screw the daughter who took care of the mother out of the, and you just, you just see these fights with people over money that, to me, you know, and I know what these people are going to do with it. It's going to be gone in a week or a month, right? And they're going to blow it on car rims or some shit. And And you're like, you know, what about that person that was there? Now, I also see that you guys do on your website, if your claim has been delayed or denied,

they can start a case evaluation with you guys. Absolutely. And again, you know, if they say no, that's not the end of your road. Let's go look at it more. Let's go see what your options are. If someone has a claim that's being delayed for whatever reason and they're not sure, that's a great time to ask for help and say, this is what I'm experiencing. You know, is there something more I should be doing?

Can you help me if they send you a denial letter? Send the letter to us. Let us look at it. We'll walk you through it. If they send you with that denial letter a return of premium, do not deposit the check because the minute you deposit that, you have signed a contract saying you waive all claims. So if you are being denied or if you are unsure why you're being delayed, just reach out and ask for help. It doesn't matter where you are.

It doesn't matter how much your policy is and it doesn't cost you to ask for help. And a part of that is because of my experience as an estate attorney and then, you know, pivoting into this practice, it really matters that people understand. So, you know, clarity and competence are equally important here. we're competent to do the job, but we want to give you the clarity to understand why we're giving you the answer we are so that you know this is what's happening, why they said it, and here's what you can do, here's what you can't do. Let's just talk. Yeah, I've seen those checks that come and they'll be like, yeah, here's a check if you don't want this policy anymore. I think my mom, they try and buy her out of some of the life insurance. She's got like care insurance so

someone will speak, you know, she can have people take care of her. And they're always, keep it always they're always they've kind of reached yeah they've kind of reached the point now where they're starting to reach out there and be like hey you know would you accept a check for like five dollars instead of in that thing out would that work for you and I think they build her some checks no shred them tricky oh shred them yeah you don't want to you don't want somebody cash in that finding the garbage or something like that exactly and if anybody has any of those checks you're welcome to mail on the meet no I'm just kidding that's not what we're doing no don't do that All right. So I see also on your website that you guys work with a diverse group of experienced experts, legal experts,

scientific, former claims examiners and medical professionals to help go through this process. And you've got how to get started, go through the process of your website. We do. And it's one of the things that I love about our practice. It's not just lawyers. And we have great lawyers. And we have a great time working together. But because we have this diverse group working, together. We have nurses in the office every day. And it's wonderful because a lot of times I can give a legal answer and say, you know, this is what we need to do or this is what we cannot do. And then I can say, let me have one of our nurses talk to you and they can explain it to you better. And not only do we have nurses, we have nurses that have ER experience. So they have the best bedside manner. So they are

able to take the most complicated and really just put it down in a way where everyone, even I can understand and be able to have that connection. And it's great. We have clients to say, look, I know you're my lawyer, but I really want to talk to the nurse and they can tell you what I need. It's great. Whatever works best. We work with some of the best scientists out there, toxicologists, when we're looking at particularly with AD&D claims, when we're looking at, you know, you know, how was blood taken? What were the, you know, toxicology levels? All of that. We work with the best to be able to sit there and say, okay, what does all of this mean exactly so that we are making the right arguments? And it's just so good because so many people are under the impression that

if you, if they said you had alcohol or you had this particular drug in your system, it's never going to pay, don't even try. Please try. Don't take no for an answer. There's always something we can look at. Do you find the jury trials run better than judge trials, or do you guys, doesn't matter to you guys? So we've had both. I think my husband and I are different in that regard. I find jury trials in certain circumstances to be difficult because this is such a huge topic. And it's not made to be easy.

it seems simple, right? The promise that the insurance provides seems simple. And then having to explain the contract. So it's a jury trial on contract. Here's what the contract said. And then we have to take that and couple it with, well, here's what the medical said or here's what, you know, all of these different individuals said. So we're taking drama and contracts and putting it together. we're trying to do it in a way that's not overwhelming and is still, you know, connecting on the emotional level, on on the legal level, I find that to be not always an easy task. Now, my husband makes it look very easy. He's incredible at working with the jury trials. I like the judge trials because it's less for me to explain sometimes. But I would tell you, most of these do not go to

trial. Most of the time, the parties are able to come to, well, maybe unhappily, but the parties are able to come together and resolve. Or if something's been denied outright, we went on appeal. You know, we'll submit our claim to the insurance company and win. Wow. And it says here, if you guys win, you pay nothing unless you recover your benefits. Is that correct? That's correct. It's correct. We do not get paid unless our client wins. And you've handled thousands of life insurance Yes. Yes. Nearly every kind of issue.

And some of these, I was just noticing some of these are dismemberment policies, too. Like if you have an injury at work, get your arm cut off or something. So the accidental death and dismemberment membership policies, we don't typically do the living version of that where we've lost a finger, lost an arm. We can, but we don't typically focus on that. We really love the accidental death policies when someone has passed because they are almost universally denied. I've worked with funeral homes that have called me up,

said somebody showed up with an accidental death policy, and we just told them to go away. We can't use that. And that's not fair because that policy is there for a reason. And they are so often and so easily denied for whatever reason. You had a preexisting health condition, or you were breathing too deeply, or you sat next to a beer bottle,

or you had a prescription for a certain, you know, medication. They are always denied, and they should never, ever be taken on that denial. Never, ever accept that no. My husband in particular loves those claims and admittedly unbiased, but he may be the best accidental death policy attorney I've ever seen. He's just wonderful at him, and he wins. Well, you know, somebody's got to stand up for this because I hear too much of this from

many of the people we have on the show, you know, about how they're building in language to have back doors or escape routes or whatever you guys call them in the legalese community. Clearly, I'm not an attorney, but I play one on. God bless you for that. I'm just a podcast host. The to take legal advice for me, folks, that's why I have attorneys on the show. What else should I be asking you? Is there any sort of other things that we should be telling people to get them to know you guys better?

Think that one of the best things to tell them is let's have a conversation. And I love talking to people, but when they come to me, it's usually you're beyond stressed and you're in a crisis. A lot of times people will call us and say, I think someone had a life insurance policy. I can do a lot of things, but I cannot conjure up that life insurance policy. You can't take a crystal ball and a Ouija board. They did not give me one at the end of law school. If they did, I would charge so much more. But I would tell people, have a conversation.

with your family, if you can say, do you have these things? And have it in a respectful way because some people don't want to tell you all about all their stuff. And they might get antsy thinking you're trying to put dollar signs on the value of their life at that point. Have it in a respectful way with your family to say, I just need to know, do you have this? And if you do, where is it? And you don't have to tell me the amount. You don't have to show me the document, but if something happens to you, where do I need to go look for this? Because when something happens to you, I am not in the right place to have to go dig through your documents because I'm scared and I'm overwhelmed.

And now I'm having to consider all the financial implications of where's that policy doing? How to get this policy? Can I pay for the funeral? Oh my gosh. My sister, I never got along. Yeah. So how what do you have and where is it? And then I would follow it up with have you looked at it.

Does it still say what you want it to say? You don't have to tell me what it says. But just look at it. Make sure it's updated. Absolutely. Those are great conversations to have. And then when somebody's passed away, if we need to have another conversation, I can talk to you about all kinds of things.

but at least you had the right conversation to know that there's something out there so that we can look at what you have and see what your rights are. All the more reason, you should try and keep these documents in safe places and secure places, but, you know, where your family knows where to find them. Like my mom,

I think, keeps a folder. I need to start keeping a folder. We've had some people online or on the show that they do online stuff where you can, you can put your things because, yeah, I mean, you're trying to plan a funeral.

you got to get that done. That's not like an option you can just delay. Like, well, we'll do that in a few months or something. Just leave them in the ice box in the garage. You know, so you, you've got to. I'm not eating ice cream at your house. Well, I do live in Vegas. So there's some jokes about Vegas and ice boxes. But mostly, you know, we put them in the West Desert. That's what we do. Anyway, it's a mob thing. But first we check their policies. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. So as we go on, out, give people a final pitch out. How can they onboard with you? How can they reach out for more information? Do you do advisory? I'm kind of stacking a few things here. You do advisory stuff

where if I want to buy a policy, you might give me some advice whether I'm buying for that company or it looks good. I do not. I do not. I'm not involved in the purchasing of a life insurance company now. If you want to send me an email, I'll give you my husband's top 10 or worst 10. be pleased to do that because the Lord knows he's got a list. But I'm not a part of that process. I'm always there, you know, once the policy's there and we know we have a policy when someone passes, if you're not sure what to do, if it's being delayed or denied or you think somebody's about to fight you for it, call because we can just talk and figure out where to go from there. If you want to call, you can call our office at 888-615, 3-2- Our website is lifeclaim.com. On our website or two little forms, if you want to fill one or the other out, those emails come directly to me. And I, I'm the one who answers probably about 90% of them or we'll give you a call back and say, I've got some questions. Can you send me a little more information? And I will call you back even if I don't think we can help you because I don't want somebody waiting around to say, you know, I can't find that policy. I'm going to call you and tell you, okay. here's where I think you need to go. I can't find the policy for you, but I wanted you to know that I got your email and I'm listening

and I understand where you are and take the next steps. Well, they can reach out to you and take care of it that way. And, you know, these are important things to do. I hate talking about some of this stuff because you're like, let's talk about the cool things we're going to do after you die. It's like, it's really hard to, I don't know, I have a hard time with it. I think some people may be, I think more so, you know, I've always been able to make money and I'll make money all my life.

So I don't, I'm not going to sweat it if somebody skips me on their will or whatever the hell it is. But, you know, I've just seen the ugliness that comes out when there's money on the table, you know, and with families and stuff. And I just, oh. And then, you know, lately I've been seeing the ugliness of, you know, this insurance stuff. So thank you very much for coming to show, Stephanie. We really appreciate it.

Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. And thanks for us for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, for Jessica, LinkedIn.com, Fortress Hasch, Chrisvost. Chris Voss, one, the TikTok, and you, Facebook.com, for it says Chris Foss.

Be good, to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time. You've been listening to the most amazing, intelligent podcast ever made to improve your brain and your life. Warning, consuming too much of the Chris Walsh Show podcast can lead to people thinking you're smarter, younger, and irresistible sexy. Consume in regularly moderated amounts. Consult the doctor for any resulting brain bleed. All right, and that should have us out. Great show.