Buying Life Insurance On Someone Without Their Consent
Question: Bernard wants to buy a life insurance on his ex-wife and make their kid the beneficiary. However, he does not want his ex-wife to know about it. He has very little idea on why people buy life insurance [http://www.ampminsure.org/life.html] and if at all they can buy life insurance like this. He would like to know if this is possible since they are not legally together anymore for the last 20 years.
Answer: Bernard, first of all buying life insurance on someone else's name without the consent of that person is considered illegal. You need to buy insurance with the due consent from the other person on whose name you would like to purchase the policy. Whenever it is that you want to purchase an insurance policy on someone you need the other party's signature and if you secretly purchase a policy it will not be legal.
There are various reasons why people buy life insurance, and your reason could be your son whom you want to be the beneficiary. Since, it seems that you will be paying for the insurance why don't you get one with you as the insured? Maybe you could get a policy with the consent of your ex-wife and keep your kid as the beneficiary. I would suggest this to avoid legal hassles. If you are worried that your wife might change the name of the beneficiary then you could get a policy where you may make your son as the irrevocable beneficiary.
Bernard, even if you find some insurance companies offering such a policy where the insured does not know about the existence of the policy it has to be close to a guaranteed issue policy. The insurance company will not be able to find out anything about her (your ex-wife) health and hence will not have any of her medical information. In such a case this is going to be an extremely expensive policy and not a good financial idea unless of course, you are sure that your ex-wife is breathing her last. In all circumstances you must remember that this is not legal.
Another important point to remember Bernard is that you cannot insure anyone that you please. You must have an insurable interest for which reason you want to buy the insurance policy. Insurable interest means the financial relationship that you may have with the insured.
Answer: Bernard, first of all buying life insurance on someone else's name without the consent of that person is considered illegal. You need to buy insurance with the due consent from the other person on whose name you would like to purchase the policy. Whenever it is that you want to purchase an insurance policy on someone you need the other party's signature and if you secretly purchase a policy it will not be legal.
There are various reasons why people buy life insurance, and your reason could be your son whom you want to be the beneficiary. Since, it seems that you will be paying for the insurance why don't you get one with you as the insured? Maybe you could get a policy with the consent of your ex-wife and keep your kid as the beneficiary. I would suggest this to avoid legal hassles. If you are worried that your wife might change the name of the beneficiary then you could get a policy where you may make your son as the irrevocable beneficiary.
Bernard, even if you find some insurance companies offering such a policy where the insured does not know about the existence of the policy it has to be close to a guaranteed issue policy. The insurance company will not be able to find out anything about her (your ex-wife) health and hence will not have any of her medical information. In such a case this is going to be an extremely expensive policy and not a good financial idea unless of course, you are sure that your ex-wife is breathing her last. In all circumstances you must remember that this is not legal.
Another important point to remember Bernard is that you cannot insure anyone that you please. You must have an insurable interest for which reason you want to buy the insurance policy. Insurable interest means the financial relationship that you may have with the insured.
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