and i thought suicide as well ???????
Depends on the 'small print' of the particular Life Policy.
In most Life Policies these days you have to have the policy for at least 13 months before you receive a payout for suicide. Meaning, if you commit suicide before the allotted 'small print' 13 months time span, no payout, after 13 months, no problem, they pay out.
Same goes for certain medical conditions. Time limits on how long you have to have the policy for a claim to be payable vary and depend on the type of Life Policy you have. I just went through all this about year and half ago.
Best to always be clear exactly what the 'small print' says in the particular type of Life Policy you have. For example, my husband had diabetes and his Life Policy stated that it would
not pay out if he died because of his diabetes (whatever that meant exactly I have no clue). However, he died from cancer which was not related to him being a diabetic and they paid out.
In his case, though the life policy was in his name, I was also joint owner of his policy because that's the way he chose to have it set up. That meant the payout went straight to me in my name and not in his name, (which would have meant it would have to become a part of his Estate and used towards paying out
all his outstanding debts.)
Having it go to my name was a bonus because it meant I could do with it as I liked because the money was mine personally, not his, thus not a part of his Estate. My only 'obligation' was to payout any outstanding debts which were joint debts, meaning, in both his and my name, which means those debts immediately upon his death all become my debt. Any debts in his name only (my name exluded) were to be paid out from his Estate money.
He had a lot of business debt and because I had no part in them in any way, I was not obliged to use any of my personal money from the Life Policy payout to pay his personal nor his business debts. The house mortage was in joint names, meaning, once he died the mortage debt became all mine. Also meant the house was all mine with no probate attached to his 'half'. So after paying that and a few other debts we had in joint names, the rest of the life insurance money was all mine personally and there was no obligation to use it for his name only debts.
There was also another Life Policy in his name but which was jointly owned by both him and the the work Company and I did not see a cent of that money because I had no part in the Company. Reason being, that because that Life Policy was owned jointly by the Business Company, the Company got the money.
In my case we were seperated but remained best of friends and never divorced, which meant that legally, I was still his wife and that made settlements all the more easier, even more so that there was no other 'interested' party to make claims on any of the assets.
It can be quite tricky. Superannuation claims can be a pain, especially if the person hasn't nominated anyone as beneficiary. Naming a beneficiary in your will for your superannuation doesn't mean that person necessarily gets the superannuation because Super payout is a law onto itself.