Life Insurance: How does this work?

[Seth]

The policies I've had specify that no premiums will be required if I'm missing and MIGHT be dead.

Schrodinger's insurance policy

Anyway, I think the determining factor is the circumstances under which the person goes missing, and do those circumstance give rise to a probability that a) the disappearance was not intentional; and b) the circumstances reasonably indicate that death is likely.

Someone walking away from their home after an argument leaves open the substantial likelihood that they have just gone somewhere else, whereas an aircraft full of people disappearing during a scheduled overseas flight, or a hiker on a solo hike who told people where he was going and when he would be back who cannot be found after a careful search gives rise to a rational conclusion that something inadvertent and fatal has happened. Of course, the amount of time before a person can be declared dead is highly variable, and it's not always "seven years." Someone who goes missing over the Bearing Sea is less likely to survive long, even if they have life rafts, than someone who goes missing in tropical climes.

But people have been known to survive amazingly long even in harsh climates, if they have survival skills and the will to survive, so it's likely to be more like months or years than weeks before someone can be declared dead.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It was just a perfect storm moment, multiple factors coming together at the same time fucking with my friable sanity.

Been there, thought about that. Didn't buy the t-shirt farm, tho. Anyway,

I've been in situations where suicide was actually the most rational option. Luckily, I'm not rational.

[Gallstones]

I get my policy through my bank. I pay just under $11/month for $75K. My son is covered too, but for less.
Not bad, huh?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I get my policy through my bank. I pay just under $11/month for $75K. My son is covered too, but for less.
Not bad, huh?

You might want to look into at least tripling that if you have any kind of obligations that will need paid off if you die.

[Gallstones]

I get my policy through my bank. I pay just under $11/month for $75K. My son is covered too, but for less.
Not bad, huh?

You might want to look into at least tripling that if you have any kind of obligations that will need paid off if you die.

The mortgage could easily be covered by a third of that. I have no credit cards and am paying for nothing on time except the house.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I get my policy through my bank. I pay just under $11/month for $75K. My son is covered too, but for less.
Not bad, huh?

You might want to look into at least tripling that if you have any kind of obligations that will need paid off if you die.

The mortgage could easily be covered by a third of that. I have no credit cards and am paying for nothing on time except the house.

Have you made funeral arrangements? At least made your wishes known? I have a pre-paid funeral plan that will handle all that for Ayaan if the cats finally need succeed in killing me some dark night. I spent over $40,000 in the first month after Brenda died, leaving me not a whole lot to go on after.

[mistermack]

The company I've linked are one of the cheapest, and you do get a nude lady free with the policy :

[Gallstones]

We have had four suicides and one attempt this winter so far. An unusually high number. One of these involved the parent of a client. The client has had to pitch in to help pay funeral expenses.

My own life insurance states that it would be void in cases of suicide and acts of war. Something like that.

Just so you know, I don't believe that suicide exclusions are legal any longer. They usually only are legal for a short period right after the policy has been taken out, like a year at most. This is because the courts have ruled that suicidal ideology is an illness, and that if the person was not suicidal at the time they took out the policy, that the company cannot deny the claim because they later developed an illness that caused them to take their own life, as that is an unpredictable event. The suicide exclusion is only applicable in situations where it constitutes fraud on the insurer because the person intended to commit suicide and bought the policy while having that intention.

You are correct.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6831464_montan ... rance.html

Montana State Laws on Suicide Exclusions in Life Insurance
By Alibaster Smith, eHow Contributor


Suicide exclusions in Montana prevent your beneficiaries from collecting on your life insurance policy if you die within two years of taking out a policy.

Montana specifies that a life insurance company cannot issue a life insurance policy unless it contains a two-year exclusion for suicide. If an insured takes out a life insurance policy and commits suicide within two years of taking out the policy, the insurance company will not pay the death benefit. Instead, the insurance company will refund all premiums paid to the beneficiary.
Benefit

By not allowing suicide within the first two years of the policy, insurance companies are protected from insured individuals purchasing policies, killing themselves immediately, and then allowing their families to collect on the death benefit.
Drawbacks

After the two-year exclusion period is up, the individual can commit suicide and collect on the death benefits. The insurance company must pay a death claim and cannot contest the cause of death, delay, or refuse payment.

http://www.ambest.com/legal/digest/montana.pdf

SUICIDE
Presumption against. In favor of accident and against suicide. Lewis v. New York Life, 113 Mont. 151, 124 P.2d 579 (1942). Life insurance policy may not ex-clude coverage for suicide beyond 2 years with rider. M.C.A. §33-20-121.