Insurance Death Master Settlement Nets North Dakota More Than $138K

North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm says the state will receive more than $138,000 in settlement agreements over use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, or DMF.

Hamm says life insurers have used the DMF for many years to search for and stop payments to annuity holders, but have not used the database to identify deceased life insurance policyholders to pay beneficiaries.

Under the terms of the settlement, Jackson National will pay North Dakota more than $56,000 and AXA will pay the state more $82,000.

The multi-million dollar agreement was the result of a coordinated multi-state examination among state insurance departments in North Dakota, California, Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.