Claiming life insurance following death

Flashned

My brother in law recently passed away from lung cancer. He had a life insurance policy upon which he is registered as a non smoker since he had previously stopped smoking , and had not smoked when the policy was updated 12 years ago. The doctor has put the cause of death as mesastatic lung cancer, and under a separate part which states “part 2 Other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to the disease or condition causing it “ tobacco smoking “. My question is will this effect the claim being paid out?

cymruchris

It would depend on what he signed up to - what questions were asked - and how they were answered.

If at proposal stage they'd asked 'do you smoke' - and he said 'no' - then that would likely be ok.

If they'd said 'Do you or have you ever smoked' - and he said 'no' - then that might be more challenging.

You'd have to try and find the original policy to see what it did and didn't cover.

DullGreyGuy

The answers only need to have been true at the point that he answered the questions so if he had stopped smoking for 5 years but then relapsed a few years after taking out the policy then in principle that isn't an issue however the insurer may decide to check fr evidence of him having stopped at the time. 

TELLIT01

DullGreyGuy said:

The answers only need to have been true at the point that he answered the questions so if he had stopped smoking for 5 years but then relapsed a few years after taking out the policy then in principle that isn't an issue however the insurer may decide to check fr evidence of him having stopped at the time. 

The answer only needs to be true at the point of answering the question but, as cymruchris has pointed out, the wording of the question is vital.