Life insurance policies and grandparents?

Question

My father told me he took out a life insurance policy on my daughter today and he is the benneficiary, is this possible without my consent?

Answer 1

The insurance company requires insurable interest and your signature stating that you a) know the policy is being taken out on your child by another party and b) are okay with it. Therefore, you would be required to sign the application, and it should have been witnessed by the writing agent if in person, or he could have gotten it by mail or over the phone, depending on what state you're in. Either or, he was wrong and you should call him on the carpet.

I would say that unless you're willing to have your father arrested for insurance fraud, you could tell him that you would like to be an equally named beneficiary, but if he's shady enough to do this without telling you beforehand, as owner, he can change the policy and beneficiaries at any time he wants. That's pretty crass of him to do that, so now that you know he legally can't, you need to figure out how you're going to handle this sticky situation.

Answer 2

You must have an "insurable interest" to take out a policy on someone else - parent, grandparent, guardian, etc.

Answer 3

Either you or her mother must sign off on the application, unless he is her legal guardian.  If neither of you did, he forged your name.

That's illegal - will you bring him up on charges?  Or let it go?

Answer 4

I wouldn't think so, but this past year I have heard many stories about people taking out life insurance policies on their older neighbors and such, just waiting for them to die and get rich. . . I wouldn't care if somebody did it to me, but I would like to give my consent first. . . Very strange.