My wife died suddenly in June 2015 from a cerebral aneurysm aged 60. We had  been married for just over 10 years. We had held an insurance policy with Westpac Insurance through our local St George Bank branch for over 10 years.

The insurance company have advised that the cause of death would not stop a payout, but are now disputing whether the policy should have been issued to start with. They claim that we failed to disclose something on the application, namely Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, whilst accepting that this was not related to the cause of death.

The only problem with this is that MCTD was never confirmed, there were blood tests being done to identify if there was an issue and what it might be. My wife was not being treated for it, taking medication for it, or anything else, even after the policy was issued.

This is simply another case of an insurance company trying to get out of making a payout. They were happy to take our money for 10 years, so just get on and approve the payout for the full amount.

It means little to Westpac, but means the world to me as I have had to borrow money just to give my wife a resting place. Christmas will be hard enough as it is, without having to fight a major corporation over something that is totally irrelevant.