Reader’s Question:

I am from New York, NY and I have a life insurance from a local insurer here. Will my beneficiaries still receive life insurance if for the insured committed suicide?

Nancy

New York, NY

That’s an interesting question Nancy

Suicide is indeed a very controversial case. This means that life insurance companies in New York New York NY, or any state for that matter, may treat the case differently based on their own judgment. If you and I trace back to the cases of suicide, the court have always favored the beneficiaries in cases if the suicide is proven to be purely incidental, such as there are no trace of murder or insurance reasons. This would mean that life insurance benefits are given to the beneficiaries of the policy holder who did commit suicide. In most cases, the life insurance company returns the total amount paid by the insured if the policy is still enforced within two years of policy life. Should the life insurance policy go beyond two years, that’s the only time that the beneficiary will get to receive the actual death benefit of the insured.

The two year policy-life in life insurance is mostly related to the contestable period which is provided by governing rules and regulations on insurance in every state. A contestable period serves as a protection both for the provider and the insured. It is essentially a period to trace fraud and lies on the application. Most life insurance companies in New York NY may find it necessary to simply return the premium amount within the contestable period when the insured committed suicide. To be sure of how suicide is treated by most insurers in your area, it will be best to check on the provision in the life insurance policy. Again some companies in New York New York NY treat it differently and it may be that their life insurance products specifically disregard cases of suicide in the contract. If not, then the general provision I stated earlier should apply in your case.

Tags: life insurance leads, insurance regulations