(TOPEKA)— Sandy Praeger, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance,  announced today in a news release the Kansas Insurance Department (KID) will receive $510,146 in settlement funds from seven different insurance companies following a review of the companies’ death benefit practices.

The department has or will receive the following amounts from these insurance companies: ING, $114,726; New York Life, $110,255; Lincoln National, $78,182; TransAmerica, $67,668; TIAA-CREF, $67,620; Aviva and Global Atlantic, $48,057; and Midland, $23,638. The funds are the Kansas portion of the national settlements for each company.

Previously, life insurance companies used the Social Security Death Master File to search for and stop payments to deceased annuity holders, but they hadn’t used the database to identify deceased life insurance policyholders in order to pay beneficiaries promptly. Under the settlement agreement, they now have to.

The settlement money, under Kansas law, goes to the state’s general fund budget.