Related: The root of the death benefits controversy … Prudential's paperless push

Prudential has agreed to pay $17 million to 20 states to settle a controversy over unpaid insurance claims.

The company and other life insurers are being pressured to use a Social Security database recording deaths to identify beneficiaries for life benefits, instead of waiting for them to come looking for the payout.

Prudential must "use death master and all other means available to them to ensure that when life insurance policyholders die, their beneficiaries receive the benefits owed," California insurance commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement, reported by