Does Life Insurance Cover Suicide?

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. This hotline is active and available 24 hours a day.

If you feel more comfortable over text, you can also text HOME to 741741 to speak with a crisis counselor.

A death by suicide will void life insurance in some cases and depending on the policy. Typically, if the death occurs within the first two years of the policy, then the insurance company will not pay out life insurance.

The reasoning for this is to prevent people who are planning to take their own lives from taking out a life insurance policy for their families when they do so.

But if suicide occurs more than two years after the policy began, the insurance company will typically pay it out to the policy’s beneficiary. This circumstance does depend on the specific contract.

According to Forbes, if a suicidal death does occur in the first two years, the company may still refund any paid premiums.

In an individual policy, the two-year period typically applies.

As far as group policies, it depends on the terms of the contract.

Group life insurance has one contract for the entire group and a smaller death benefit, so an insurance company could pay out the benefit if someone in the group died from suicide.

Whole life is a form of permanent life insurance. It lasts for the entirety of your life —that is, as long as you continue to pay premiums.

Term life insurance only lasts for a specific number of years (the “term” of the insurance contract).

Both term life and whole life insurance policies may pay beneficiaries if a suicidal death occurs after the two- or three-year period specified in the individual policy has passed.

Some policies include a suicide provision. In these cases, the insurance company does not have to pay the family if the death resulted from suicide.

Since some suicide clauses cover the first two years of the policy, the life insurance company could pay the family after that time.

There is also an incontestability clause in some policies. This means that an insurance company can’t contest a claim or a payout after a certain amount of time has passed.

Some additional scenarios may affect whether a death benefit is paid out or not in the event of a death by suicide or other unusual circumstances.

Some states now have death with dignity or physician-assisted suicide, where a doctor can assist a suicide for someone whose quality of life has reached a low point due to a terminal illness.

Since there are so few states and areas where this rule exists, it depends on whether an insurance company will pay out in this circumstance.

It is unlikely that your family will receive a death benefit if you were aware of your terminal illness when you bought life insurance.

Military group life insurance should still pay out a death benefit even in the event of suicide due to the contract covering the entire group.

This scenario depends on the policy and circumstance. Some policies will not pay out if the death occurred during an illegal activity, which certain drug usage could be categorized.

Also, an overdose could impact the policy if the death occurs in the first two years and there was evidence it was a suicide.

A diagnosis of depression or anxiety can increase life insurance premiums. However, it’s rare for a diagnosis of either to cause an insurer to deny coverage. A mental health diagnosis should not influence payout if the insured later commits suicide, provided that the incident does not occur within the exclusion period and there is no suicide clause.

Many mental health factors can influence premiums, however. These include the level of the diagnosis received, the type of treatment the insured has received, and the number and types of medications prescribed. Showing a steady treatment history can help keep premiums down.

The primary way that an insurance company cannot pay out a death benefit is if the death was by suicide and occurred in the first two years of the policy. This is true for most policies and suicide clauses.

In this circumstance, the family may receive some money from refunds on the premiums paid.

When a policyholder dies, the life insurance company will require a death certificate before making any payout on the policy. The death certificate includes the cause of death, including whether it was suicide.

If the cause was inconclusive, the insurance company may require more information and evidence of the actual cause of death.

In cases involving an inconclusive cause of death or suspicious death, life insurance claims can be held up while the insurance company conducts an investigation. In the end, these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. It can take months or even years before any payment is made — or denied.