Bill > HB729

This bill allows licensed funeral service providers to obtain crucial information about a deceased person's life insurance policies within two business days of making a request, provided they submit a death notification and written authorization from the person legally responsible for the deceased's disposition, and for group policies, proof of the deceased's affiliation. Insurers must then disclose the existence of policies, beneficiaries, outstanding loan amounts, benefit amounts, and whether the policy was recently reinstated, along with a claim form. If no response is received, the funeral provider can escalate the issue to the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection as a complaint. The bill also mandates that funeral providers make reasonable efforts to notify beneficiaries within 100 hours of receiving policy information and explicitly inform them in writing that they are not obligated to use the insurance payout for the deceased's funeral expenses or debts. Failure to comply with these notification requirements or making a false request for information can be considered unprofessional conduct for funeral directors, potentially leading to disciplinary action by the State Board of Funeral Service, as outlined in Section 73-11-57 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, which this bill amends to include these new provisions.

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https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/HB/HB0729.xml