A huge source of unclaimed life insurance assets has been the recent demutualization of some of the largest insurance companies. Demutualization is a reorganization in which a mutual insurance company is transformed into a public stock company. This reorganization has no impact on the coverage of the life insurance policy.

After demutualization, the amount of stock due each policyholder is based on a number of factors, including length of time the policy has been in force, face value of their policy, and total premiums paid. For many policyholders, this windfall arising from demutualization can be substantial, and the financial benefits continue long after the company demutualizes.Between 1985 and 2004, more than 20 major insurance companies went through demutualization. Unfortunately, the current addresses of millions of policyholders were not known by these major insurance companies and the policyholders were not informed that they now owned stock in a new company in addition to their actual life insurance policy.

If you or a deceased relative had a life insurance policy, you may be entitled to either stock and cash dividends as well as the proceeds of the policy itself. If the policyholder cannot be found, the demutualization proceeds are turned over to a government trust after the statutory period which varies from state to state (but normally a one to three year period) has passed. There is no time limit by which these proceeds can be recovered, however it is possible the stock could be sold by the government custodian and any appreciation or dividends after time of sale would be lost.