Timeframe around death of a family member

[LME]

Does anyone know the time allowed to cancel a trip after the death of a family member?

 

I booked a cruise for 4/17 and bought insurance thru my TA. Sadly, my dad is very ill and he may die any day. Needless to say, we will not feel like taking a vacation a week or two later, but I am wondering how an insurance company will view that, i.e., if it is not within a few days of the cruise, they may not pay.

 

Definitely not what I want to be thinking about right now, but I wish I had a better sense for what they will cover.

 

Many thanks.

[6rugrats]

I have no idea what type of insurance you have. If your dad dies, under what provision of your policy would you be allowed to cancel? Did you get a policy that covers pre-existing conditions (if you dad was ill when you purchased the policy)?

 

I know with the coverage we usually purchase from Travelguard, we may cancel a trip for these related reasons:

 

Sickness, Injury or death of an Insured, Family Member,

Traveling Companion, or Business Partner.

And

 

If the Insured must cancel or interrupt his/her Trip due to

Injury or Sickness of a Family Member not traveling with

the Insured, it must be because his or her condition is life

threatening as certified by a Physician, or because he or she requires the Insured's care.

 

It does not state a time frame in which these events must occur for you to be able to cancel, but if you have coverage for this, you are so close to your cruise date, reasonably you should be able to cancel. Suggest you contact the TA who sold you this policy, or speak with the insurance company directly to clarify what your options are. You may want to just consider cancelling now, if that's an option for you. You don't want to be on this cruise if your dad needs you.

[LME]

Thanks 6rugrats. The policy is with TravelGuard. My TA told me to call them. I did when he was "just sick" to try to get some more information, basically they said that they would look at the claim after I cancelled. But you are right, I should give them a call again. He is 94 and, besides all of the varoius and sundry things that come with being 94, was in OK health, so no real pre-existing conditions.

 

Thanks again for you viewpoint.

[6rugrats]

You're welcome; good luck, I hope this works out. If you want to cancel now, it sounds as if he is ill enough for you to do so. You really only need his doctor to document that this is true.

[cruiseco]

Does anyone know the time allowed to cancel a trip after the death of a family member?

 

I booked a cruise for 4/17 and bought insurance thru my TA. Sadly, my dad is very ill and he may die any day. Needless to say, we will not feel like taking a vacation a week or two later, but I am wondering how an insurance company will view that, i.e., if it is not within a few days of the cruise, they may not pay.

 

Definitely not what I want to be thinking about right now, but I wish I had a better sense for what they will cover.

 

Many thanks.

 

I've seen many claims like this. A couple weeks or a month before you depart? No insurer would question that. I know that when my parents died I spent several weeks getting things taken care of. Now if it happens three months or more before you depart they'd probably want to know a little more about the situation. With some inheritance/estate/probate problems it's very possible that you would need to be around to sign papers or deal with lawyers regularly for months. That's why you'll never see some kind of cut-off date and will never get an answer over and above "we'll take a look at it when the paperwork is submitted." But three weeks before departure, no problem.

[LME]

That makes sense. Thanks, cruiseco. With all that lies ahead, this is one thing that I would like to put to rest. No pun intended. Thanks again.

[Bowie MeMe]

I am sorry for the sickness of your father. We faced this situation last year and my mother-in-law passed 12 days before a Panama Canal Cruise for us. We flew down the day after she died. Family and we took care of cleaning out her room, meeting lawyers, meeting with funeral home for cremation. We came to the conclusion pretty fast that we wanted to have a memorial service 5 months later in her childhood home. We had it done in 4 days and flew home to leave for our cruise 3 days later. For us this worked very very well. We sat on our balcony and talked and remembered and celebrated a much loved person. In some ways it was weird because we sort of thought that we should be grieveing and cruising is "not the way" to grieve. But it was perfect for us. We rested, we relaxed after the strain of making arrangements, we had distraction that was interesting and fun and we gathered strength to face the problems of estates, investments, notifications etc. We found nothing went very fast and our "vacation" did not slow anything down. Play it by ear and even if your father dies close to your date -- consider all the options. It was a good cruise for us and by the time we were home we were able to face life without Mom in a little better shape.

[AuntieBon]

I am in a similar situation. My cruise isn't until December and other than a heart attack in Nov. 2009 mom has been in decent health.

 

However she is now in the hospital and I am fearing the worst. If I buy insurance today before I know anything about her health will I be covered in the case that she is sicker in the winter and I need to cancel?

 

Would the fact she is in the hospital TODAY when I buy the insurance impact my coverage?

[6rugrats]

I am in a similar situation. My cruise isn't until December and other than a heart attack in Nov. 2009 mom has been in decent health.

 

However she is now in the hospital and I am fearing the worst. If I buy insurance today before I know anything about her health will I be covered in the case that she is sicker in the winter and I need to cancel?

 

Would the fact she is in the hospital TODAY when I buy the insurance impact my coverage?

 

Yes it could impact your coverage. It's like trying to purchase fire insurance for your house after the fire has started. You DO know something about her health.

 

You'd have to do some research to see what kind of policy would provide coverage you might need.