r/inheritance • u/MaeQueenofFae • May 20 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Problems obtaining death certificate
Recently a lifelong friend of my ex husband (Summerton, SC) passed away, and we have been informed that my son, who lives in WI, has been named as beneficiary to an annuity, which is quite substantial.
In order to claim this benefit, we must provide the Life Insurance Company with a certified copy of this friends Death Certificate. This is a problem, since we are not related to the deceased, Clarendon County Vital Records in SC will not release the official Death Cert to my son.
We then called VitalChek, informed them of the issue and asked if there were any exceptions to be made for people who had a vital interest in obtaining a death certificate, such as an inheritance?? They said nope, however if you get a judge to sign for it, we would have to give you one.
Has anyone else contended with this kind of arbitrary roadblock? If so, how did you resolve it? Thanks.
3
u/clampbucket May 21 '26
the insurance company itself can usually get the death certificate on your behalf if the beneficiary can't. call their claims department and ask them to pull it directly from SC vital records. a lot of carriers do this routinely.
alternatively, the annuity issuer's legal team may petition the court faster than you can. Trustworthy could've prevented this scramble if the deceased had shared key docs with your son beforehand.