What Does Insurable Interest Mean on a Life Insurance Policy?

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

People often have many questions about life insurance policies because of how intricate and complex these policies and contract can be. One of the most popular questions that many people have when it comes to life insurance is what insurable interest means or refers to within the terms and context of a life insurance policy. Insurable interest refers to those who are potential beneficiaries with a vested interested in the life, rather than the death, of the person for whom the life insurance policy has been filed. The individual(s) defined as insurable interest in these cases are those who will suffer, either emotionally, mentally, financially or otherwise, should the person who is applying for whom the policy is applied die. The reason this provision was put into place was so random people cannot purchase life insurance policies for strangers and collect the life insurance payout when the person passes on in death. Insurance companies would not be able to stay in business very long if they were constantly paying out multiple life insurance policies on a single person, especially if those insured were elderly or facing imminent death. This clause can also help to prevent people from taking out life insurance policies on someone and then acting in specific ways to cause or to hasten that person's death.

If you purchase a life insurance policy for yourself, it is often assumed that you have insurable interest and that is why you are purchasing the policy since the individual cannot collect their own life insurance payout when they are deceased. If you are purchasing life insurance for another individual, most often you will have to prove that you are to be considered insurable interest by the insurance company. That is, you need to demonstrate your relationship to the individual for whom you are purchasing the life insurance policy. You need to have a sufficient interest in the individual, such as specific and close relation, marriage or monetary interest from a joint business venture. The individual for whom the policy is put in to place, essentially, need to be worth more to those who qualify as insurable interest alive rather than dead.

Most life insurance policy companies will require insurable interest and some of the most common examples of insurable interest include children, spouses, parents, business partners and other such groups of people. As time goes on, more and more life insurance policy providers are becoming increasingly liberal and loose in relation to their definitions of insurance interest. However, interest in the individual or whom the life insurance policy is being drafted still needs to be proven. When investigating different life insurance policies, it is important to first discuss your specific types of insurable interest with the representative that is helping you. If the company does not accept your situation and personal examples of insurable interest, there is no reason to go through all the paperwork and physical exams required. It is important to remember that the person needs to be established as insurable interest when the policy is filed, not at the time of the person's loss or death.