If a person goes "missing" and never found. How long does it take for life insurance to kick in and bank accounts resort back to the family?

While i get the desire not giving your love ones closure would be hell for them. Also being missing can make insurance harder to claim.

Get everything you can out of your name: bank accounts, house, investments, etc. Make a living will. Look up trusts. Now is not the time to give up; not yet.

For financial accounts you should be able to assign a beneficiary now. They’ll then need to present death certificates – weeks turnaround.

Life insurance is going to be trickier and depends on the policy.

Load up a small fire proof safe with 2-3 months cash if you’re extra concerned.

Enjoy the time you have left.

It's usually 5-10 years depending on country, though almost all countries allow you to file for an early judicial declaration of death to potentially speed things up.

Though even then don't really count on life insurance, which almost always has separate clauses for the type of death which would be impossible to prove if there's no body. Extremely few insurance types pay out for missing people, since it's a legal and PR nightmare for the company if that person shows up again.

Also ysk that most insurance companies have suicide exclusion period

In US, life insurance will not pay outwithout a death certificate. Going missing will never allow one to pay out, until someone convinces a court the person who went missing is dead.

Some policies, primarily Whole Life policies, have a Terminal Illness Rider. These allow up to 70% payout prior to death if someone has less than a year or two to live. Alzheimers is probably not on the list, but each company is different.

Better option is to get a lawyer and put every asset you have in a trust with your beneficiaries as thr trustees. Set up power a of attorney as well.

In my experience, a missing person does not allow the insurance to be claimed. Should be pronounced dead by medical personnel. May depend on where you live

Damn, that's a horrible diagnosis. Sorry.

But, as others have said, love insurance has a shit ton of escape clauses because they don't want to pay out. It isn't enough to be dead necessarily, the manner and/or cause of death can be a factor.

Bank accounts are easier because you can just add people in to have access. Usually some hoops to jump through, but doable. There's also power of attorney, which helps with more than just bank issues.

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My plan in the event of that diagnosis is to find some forest and get lost before I forget how to get lost.

Delete this after lol. Probably won't pay out if they somehow find this.

Asking for a friend?

Nice try, murderous relative!

Edit. The post body took an unexpected turn...

I'm sorry to hear this. I've appreciated your interactions. I hope you stick around on here for awhile though. And your family probably wants you to stick around a bit longer too. Disappearing probably doesn't make the financial stuff easier, while plausible accidental death likely works out better.

For something like insurance I believe you'd need to be declared dead for them to even consider paying out. And in the case of a disappearance a declaration of death can take years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_death

Alzheimer’s diagnosis is going to make those premiums hefty