Life Insurance, how to find out exclusions?

[Deltaforce]

Hello folks,

I stumbled upon this board while searching for insurance-related information. I am glad, I did. There is a wealth of insurance-related info on this board. Thanks to everyone that shares their knowledge.

I have a question about the 30-year term life insurance that we bought about 8 years ago (Split between Prudential, Guardian and William Penn). The primary goal of this insurance was a financial backup for whoever is left behind, should anything fatal happens to me or DW. That time our 3 YO son also had a ton of medical issues so we were expecting a big expenditure on medical expenses (but now everything has settled down). We made this clear to the agents we worked with. Since then we have been paying the premiums religiously.

After going through a few threads here, I came across 'exclusions' or accident factor (I am pretty sure, I am not using the correct term but the payout when the person is in an accident, be it a car crash, train crash or anything else). I had no idea if such things exist. Our understanding was that the term life insurance kicks in when death occurs by any means (except suicide, of course). How do I find out that our policies have this thing covered and if there are any exclusions we should be aware of.
We may have gotten documentation while signing up but I have no idea where it is now.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[fed up]

Can you post the language that you are referring to? Exclusions for a Life policy usually apply to such things as flying, scuba diving, rock climbing, etc where you are being PAID as a pilot, diver, or climber; that it is a line of work that you are actively involved in, not a hobby or as a traveler.

 

[Deltaforce]

I don't know the language and that is what I am trying to find out. In other words, what are possible exclusions in such a term life insurance policy? I am sorry for being so incoherent.

I am not in any of those professions you mentioned. They had such question on every form that we filled in.

 

[fed up]

I don't know the language and that is what I am trying to find out. In other words, what are possible exclusions in such a term life insurance policy? I am sorry for being so incoherent.

I am not in any of those professions you mentioned. They had such question on every form that we filled in.

If I am guessing correctly you are referring to the exclusions listed in the application such as I outlined above. If you have answered them honestly and answered NO to the questions of scuba diving etc, then there is nothing that would stop a policy from paying to the beneficiaries the death benefit, especially after the contestability period, which is generally 2 years.

 

[Deltaforce]

Thank you. I hope there is nothing else in the fine print, that we did not read before signing up.

 

[pfg1]

Exclusions typically relate to things that aren't covered (excluded). Like for example: if you are a pilot, they may exclude paying the death benefit if you die while flying a plane.
If you didn't blatantly lie on your app about something material to being approved, and are past the two year contestable period, you are fine.

Some policies offer riders that will pay additional for an accidental death (like automobile, train, plane, etc).

 

[Robert Barney]

I have a question about the 30-year term life insurance that we bought about 8 years ago (Split between Prudential, Guardian and William Penn).

Providing it's not accidental death insurance, there are NO exclusions with the exception of fraud. They will cover all forms of death, including suicide.

 

[theleadingagent]

Hello folks,

I stumbled upon this board while searching for insurance-related information. I am glad, I did. There is a wealth of insurance-related info on this board. Thanks to everyone that shares their knowledge.

I have a question about the 30-year term life insurance that we bought about 8 years ago (Split between Prudential, Guardian and William Penn). The primary goal of this insurance was a financial backup for whoever is left behind, should anything fatal happens to me or DW. That time our 3 YO son also had a ton of medical issues so we were expecting a big expenditure on medical expenses (but now everything has settled down). We made this clear to the agents we worked with. Since then we have been paying the premiums religiously.

After going through a few threads here, I came across 'exclusions' or accident factor (I am pretty sure, I am not using the correct term but the payout when the person is in an accident, be it a car crash, train crash or anything else). I had no idea if such things exist. Our understanding was that the term life insurance kicks in when death occurs by any means (except suicide, of course). How do I find out that our policies have this thing covered and if there are any exclusions we should be aware of.
We may have gotten documentation while signing up but I have no idea where it is now.

Many thanks in advance.

You are thinking about common carrier accidental death benefit which is an included benefit in some policies

What is a Common Carrier? - Definition from Insuranceopedia

This varies from accidental death and dismemberment insurance which covers any type of accident not just death and not just while on public transport

Exclusions are as mentioned above.

It may help you to review your policy with your agent or and experienced agent you trust since polices can vary by company

 

[Deltaforce]

Thank you, everyone, for additional explanation.

We worked directly with Prudential, SelectQuote for William Penn and a local agent for Guardian. None offered explicitly much explanation about the policies but I made sure to tell them the reason I was buying the policies and assumed they understood, plus covered in the policies. After going through some of the threads, my suspicion sensor started ringing so asked this question.

I will reach out to get more information about the policies. I really don't want any surprises if we had to use either of the policies.