Life Insurance
You purchase life insurance not only for peace of mind, but to protect your loved ones in case something happen to you. The worst thing that can happen when it comes time for you or your family to make a claims for life or disability insurance is to be denied.
One basis for denial that insurance companies often raise is that there was a “material misrepresentation” on the application. Most often people make mistakes on the application or are instructed to answer a certain way by their agent. These are generally not valid defenses to material misrepresentations on an application.
However, at least for life insurance policies, after two years, the application becomes “incontestable,” meaning that the insurance company cannot thereafter deny the claim based on inaccuracies in the application. See F.S. §627.455.
Accidental Death Policies
Accidental death policies are a sub-species of life insurance where only “accidental” deaths are covered. This of course provides wide berth for insurance company denial of claims. Sometimes it is clear that a death was an accident, like a death in a car accident. But often it is not clear. For example, the deceased died from an overdose of pain medication. An insurance company may deny that claim and argue that the person died of an intentional overdose (ie suicide) and therefore it was not accidental.
Accidental death policies very often end up in litigation and therefore it is important to have an attorney involved as early in the process as possible.
If you or a loved one have any questions about a life insurance issue, please contact us. One of our attorneys will be more than happy to spend some time to listen and discuss your situation.
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