Unum, or Unum Life Insurance Company controls over half of the disability insurance market, and they have a practice of asking claimants to sign and submit a reimbursement form. You may be wondering what impacts that can have on your finances and whether you need to sign that form.
If you get other income benefits like Social Security Disability, there are offsets that allow Unum to pay you less in benefits. What they do not tell you is that you do not have to sign this reimbursement form, which authorizes Unum to put a lien on your bank account and personal property – and that is not actually allowed in the law. By signing it, you’re agreeing to it, and then you’ll be bound to that agreement. Asking you to sign the reimbursement form is outside of the bounds of their insurance policy, and you don’t have to sign it.
Instead, you should ask Unum to have you sign a document indicating you will reimburse them in agreement with your policy. They cannot require you to give them a lien on your personal property or your bank account. However, if you fight Unum on this point they may seek to withhold payment to you until your Social Security Disability claim is paid. This may require a decision on your part on how to handle that situation.
Regardless, in most cases, you do not have a legal obligation to sign a form that gives Unum access to your bank account and personal property. If you would like individual legal advice regarding your claim, contact us. Watch the video to learn more.
At Tucker Disability Law we handle Disability cases every day. If your disability claim has been denied, or if you have any additional questions, call Tucker Disability Law at (866) 282-5260, or review our videos and media library for more information.
Video TranscriptDo you have to sign Unum's reimbursement form in your disability insurance claim. I'm John Tucker. I'm a disability insurance attorney. And I represent people all over the country in disability insurance cases that they file through their employers' group disability plans. Unum, or Unum Life, one of the largest insurance companies in the market. They actually control more than half of the disability insurance market. If you have a claim with Unum, you've likely been given several forms that you have to file. One of them is a reimbursement form. Unum has certain offsets or reductions in their policy that reduce the amount that you get paid, if you get other income benefits, like social security disability, for instance. They have you sign a reimbursement form that allows them to have a lien on your bank account and other personal property. That's actually not allowed in the law. If you sign it, you're agreeing to it and you'll be bound to it.
But they're going outside the bounds of their policy when they ask you to sign that document. You don't have to sign that. You can ask them to sign a document that agrees with what your policy says that you'll reimburse them, but giving them a lien on your personal property or on your bank account is not something they can require you to do. Now, you have to understand if you want to fight with them over this form, they may want to withhold payment from you until your social security claim is paid. And you will have to make a decision about the way you want to handle that. But I'm telling you that you don't have a legal obligation, in most cases, to sign a form that says that. Of course, legal advice is individual. And if you want a specific opinion about the form they're asking you to sign, we encourage you to give us a call at the number on your screen. We handle cases like yours every day, and we'd be happy to talk to you. We can help you. I'm John Tucker. Thank you for watching.
