Life Insurance: Death Clause Analysis

Simran Singh, Lovely Professional University

ABSTRACT

A life insurance policy is a contract that the policy owner (the insured) and the insurer (the insurance firm) agree upon. In the event of the insured person's death, the insurer agrees to pay a premium to the specified beneficiary. The policyholder chooses to make fixed payments (lump sums or regular intervals). In essence, life insurance plans are contracts that outline the terms and conditions of the insured events.

Often included in the contract, exclusions serve to restrict the insurer's liability. Claims involving suicide, fraud, war, riots, and civil disturbance are typical examples. Suicide is the deliberate and deliberate self-destructive behaviour of an individual who ends their own life. All self-destructive behaviours are included in suicide.

Certain life insurance plans contain provisions that enable the policyholder to alter and restrict the insurer's responsibility in the case of suicide. If a policy has this kind of a clause, the insurer could decline to issue the coverage. The insurers take on the risk of proving suicide because they are unable to prevent suicide and do not make an assumption against it in cases where the cause of death is unknown.

In India, it is likewise the case. This strategy would prohibit this allegation on a contractual level because the insured person could not be the cause of his own loss and, moreover, the law would not allow him to do so. This study looks at the impact of suicide clauses in life insurance contracts as well as the development of legislation and policy regarding claims on life insurance policies in cases where the insured or assured committed suicide after the policy's inception. It also provides a comparison of the suicide laws in India, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Keywords: Life insurance, suicide, insured, insurer, India, risk