For a while it was commonplace for life insurance companies to offer no-examination policies that could be taken out online. We have seen these online life insurance policies being issued for as much as $500,000.00! More recently, we are seeing life insurance companies offering these online life insurance policies for lesser amounts and some companies have stopped selling these policies all together. One of the reasons life insurance companies have stopped selling these policies is from all the litigation that comes from no-examination online life insurance policies. If your loved one bought one of these online policies and you are being denied the benefits don’t fret! We can help you. We deal with these issues on a regular basis. You can talk to one of your experienced life insurance attorneys for a free consultation on your life insurance case.
I can’t even begin to tell you all of the legal issues that come up with no examination online life insurance policies. In this blog I will touch on one of the more common issues we see in these policies. If this is not the issue you are experiencing feel free to call our attorneys to speak about your specific problem.
Often times the person taking out the policy is not the insured. For example, a daughter takes out an online life insurance policy for her mother. The daughter took out the policy on the computer because her mom is not good with computers and the daughter used her personal email address because the mom does not use email. The insurance company took the premium payment for years, but when the mother passed they refuse to pay because the daughter took out the policy. The relevant Missouri Statute for this situation is as follows:
Life insurance policies, consent of insured required, exceptions–employers have insurable interest in employees, when, effects.
376.531. 1. No life insurance contract upon an individual, except a contract of group life insurance, shall be made or effectuated unless at the time of the making of the contract the individual insured, being competent and of legal capacity to contract, applies therefor or has consented thereto in writing, except in the following cases…
Read the full Statute here: http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3760000531.HTM
In our above example, the daughter would need consent from her mom in writing to take out the policy. Often times life insurance companies will not make you aware of this requirement until it comes time to send the denial letter. If you are in this situation it is important to contact an attorney to preserve your rights.