Life Insurance policies are designed to provide some financial peace of mind in the event of an early or unexpected death. By having an insurance provider with deep pockets there to insure your loved ones will be ok after you pass, you can rest easy at night. That is to say, many will sleep easy under the assumption that their plan will hold up and pay out to beneficiaries according to plan. Many consumers of health insurance plans do not realize that there may be large threats to the actual chance of a payout depending on their lifestyle. As there are certain exclusions to the acceptable reasons for a payout under any life insurance claims, consumers will want to be aware of issues that may get in their way. In particular, those that like to ‘bend the rules’ might wish to be aware of the felony exclusion rule for life insurance policies that might render their policy void and have their beneficiary’s claims denied. What to do when an insurance company denies your claim
In general, exclusions exist in life insurance policies to offer some protection to the providers for covered individuals whose lives are cut short due to issues that were in the insured’s control and could have been avoided. Such things as fraud, dangerous life choices or illegal activity in some cases. It is a well known fact that there are inherently more risks associated with conducting certain illegal activity. Especially if the illegal activity rises to the level of a felony. If an insured individual is killed during the process of committing a felony, an insurance provider will not need to payout the value of a life insurance policy to the beneficiaries filing claims. The reasoning behind this is that an insured party can easily obtain a fraudulent policy knowing that he or she may die in the near future. If that is the case, the insured can obtain a policy, commit the dangerous and illegal activity, be killed and their beneficiaries would benefit from the process. Another route is someone obtaining life insurance on a criminal knowing that they may profit from a plan in the near future.
If the insurance provider is aware that a felony may have been committed during the events that led to the insured’s death, they will likely delay any payout claims until an investigation has been performed. Once the appropriate facts have come to light, the insurance provider may choose to deny the claims under the exclusion. Now, to be clear, not all felony exclusion determinations by an insurance provider are legit. While they may feel like they have made the right claim decision, the fact exists that they may be erring on the side of saving themselves money. That being said, if you have been denied a life insurance claim wrongfully due to the felony exclusion, do not be afraid to seek out assistance for an experience legal team. Our legal professionals have dealt with felony exclusion cases and are prepared to help you battle against any insurance provider that has wrongfully denied your claim.