Should insurance have cleared mortgage on my father's death?

My parents bought a house in the 1960s with a mortgage from the now defunct Civil Service Building Society, and mortgage insurance from RSA without any choice in the matter. My father died in the 1970s leaving my mother with 4 young children. She continued to pay the mortgage until it was cleared, 15/20+ years, but I'm wondering whether the mortgage insurance should have cleared it on his death?

She was not a financially savvy person, still isn't, and it's something I only asked her about very recently when discussing her health insurance. I don't know whether she co-signed the mortgage and she didn't want to revisit that time in her life. If she was a co-signee, would she have been liable for the outstanding mortgage?

Harry

Has she still got the policy documents? Was she working or how did she manage to keep paying?

Hi Emeralds,
No idea whether she still has the policy documents. Would have to ask her outright or have a root around at home.
As to how she kept up payments, not sure about that either as I was very young at the time and it's not something that was ever spoken about. On marriage in the 1960s she was obliged to stop working in the civil service although she returned to the CS in the early 1980s. She did some childminding jobs in the intervening years and her parents helped her out too. She also sold a couple of small properties in the early 80s.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Harry

That's a hard one to figure out without all the details. Did she actually notify the bank and insurance company of the death at the time, if she did then was a claim pursued but not paid out for some reason. I think I would start with the insurance company as you know which one it was, draft up a letter with the query and get your mother to sign it.

Maybe the insurance did pay out, to your mother directly rather than to the mortgage company ?

I'm not sure what property prices in Dublin were like in the 60's but, as Michael Noonan said he bought a house for 3000 punts in the early 70's, I imagine they were in that region. Some of the mortgage was already paid off, so the insurance would have covered the balance, which may have been a couple of thousand punts.
Apart from the principle of the issue, which you may feel needs to be pursued, the legal, technical and personal time costs of chasing this issue may not be worth it. I am pretty sure that even if you turn out to be right in your belief that the insurance didn't pay out, they would only be responsible for the exact amount insured, at the time.

There is no point at pursuing a potential insurance policy which may or may not have existed at this remove. All bank records of the loan will have been destroyed and even if you did find that you had a claim it would be statute barred.