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Can I Get Life Insurance on My Boyfriend?
“Can I get life insurance on my boyfriend?” That depends on whether the insurance company decides you have what’s called an insurable interest, and whether your boyfriend consents to being covered. We’ll explain what insurable interest is and how the process works so you can decide if it applies to your personal situation.
What Is Insurable Interest?
Life insurance companies don’t allow just anyone to take out a policy on another person. The life insurance death benefit is meant to either replace lost income or provide a final gift. That means the person being insured must have a close personal and/or financial connection to the person who takes out the policy. This is called having an insurable interest.
If no insurable interest were required, it would be too easy to game the system. For example, you could take out a policy on anyone likely to pass away soon and get paid when they died. As a more extreme example, criminals could take out life insurance policies on people they intend to kill, and profit by their death. There have to be rules to keep things legal and safe. Requiring an insurable interest helps fight fraud and crime because it means the insured person must have a close financial or personal connection to the person purchasing the policy. That’s why “can I get life insurance on my boyfriend” is a question that doesn’t necessarily have an easy answer.
Rather talk to one of our licensed life insurance experts? Call us at (800) 521-7873 or click the button below for a free term life quote.
Do Boyfriends & Girlfriends Have Insurable Interest?
In many cases, yes. Here are some questions to ask to help pin down your insurable interest:
- Do you live together? If yes, it’s easier to prove an insurable interest. If you live in a home your boyfriend owns, for example, his death would create a financial hardship for you. It would be reasonable to take out a life insurance policy on him for the remaining amount due on that mortgage. If you live in an apartment that he pays the rent for, his death would also create a financial hardship for you. If you live together but have separate finances, it would be harder to prove you have an insurable interest.
- Do you have children together? If you have children together and each contribute financially to the kids’ well-being, it’s also easy to prove an insurable interest. If he stays at home with the kids, that’s definitely considered a financial contribution because without him, you would need to pay for childcare. The death benefit would replace all the future child support and other financial contributions he would have been expected to make.
- If you do not live together and have no kids, does your boyfriend provide for you financially? If he’s contributing financially to your life while you live apart, you would need to document this. For example, if your boyfriend is paying your college tuition, his death would create a financial hardship for you even if you don’t live together.
- Does he owe you money? If so, that debt would need to be documented. What specific amount does he owe? When did you loan him the money? How much has he paid back? Is there a payment schedule? Is there a signed loan agreement that can prove this debt exists?
- Would you be expected to cover the cost of his funeral and burial? If so, you would have an insurable interest. If your boyfriend has no family and you are the only one who could handle any final medical expenses or burial expenses he had, that could be a financial burden that would merit a small life insurance policy.
If any of the above situations apply to you, the answer to “can I get life insurance on my boyfriend” is probably yes! Let us help you get that policy in place! Call us at (800) 521-7873 or click the button below for a free term life quote.
Does Your Boyfriend Consent to Be Insured?
Consent is an important part of any life insurance policy. It’s impossible (not to mention unethical) to insure someone without their knowing it. There are obvious reasons for this, to discourage fraud and possible criminal behavior.
To take out a life insurance policy on your boyfriend, he will need to sign the application at a minimum. And if you apply for a policy with full underwriting, your boyfriend will also need to consent to his medical records being released to the insurer.
If someone were to resort to fraud to complete and submit an application without the insured person knowing, it’s illegal and those actions could make the policy invalid later. If there were ever a question, and the insurance company suspected fraud, they could deny the death benefit or delay it while they investigated.
If you have your boyfriend’s consent and an insurable interest, the answer to “can I get life insurance on my boyfriend” is probably yes! Let us help you get that policy in place! Call us at (800) 521-7873 or click the button below for a free term life quote.
Who Would Own the Policy?
Let’s say you have an insurable interest and the answer to “Can I get life insurance on my boyfriend” is yes. Your next step is to decide who will own the policy. You might not realize it, but life insurance can have up to four distinct roles:
- The insured person. This is the person whose life insured – your boyfriend, in this case. Their death is what sets the policy in motion in terms of filing a claim for the death benefit.
- The policy payer. This is the person responsible for making the policy’s payments. Usually this is the same as the insured, but it doesn’t have to be. You could pay for the policy, rather than your boyfriend.
- The policy owner. This is the person responsible for making administrative decisions about the policy. What kind of administrative decisions are there? Updating beneficiaries, for one. The policy owner is also the person responsible for making decisions like adding riders, converting a term to a permanent policy, and managing the policy’s cash value (if applicable). In most cases, the insured person is also the payer and the policy owner, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. This could also be you, making you the owner and payer.
- The beneficiary(ies). These are the people who are eligible to claim the death benefit. Only the people on the policy’s official beneficiary list can claim some or all of the death benefit. The policy owner is the only one who can update this information after the policy’s purchase. The policy owner can also specify what percentage of the death benefit each beneficiary should receive. That’s why it’s super important to keep track of your policy over the years. If you marry, divorce, have kids, adopt kids, or have other important changes in your family composition, make sure your life insurance beneficiary list gets updated, too!
Insurable interest is only an issue if the owner and/or payer is the beneficiary but not the insured. If your boyfriend takes out a life insurance policy on himself and names you as a beneficiary, for example, there is no issue. In this example, he’s the owner, payer, and insured while you are the beneficiary.
However, if you want to be the owner and payer and beneficiary on a policy that insures your boyfriend, the insurance company will need proof that his death would cause you financial harm. Your boyfriend would also have to consent to being insured, as we mentioned above.
If you have consent, an insurable interest, and are willing to be the owner and/or payer for the policy, you can get life insurance for your boyfriend. Let us help you get that policy in place! Call us at (800) 521-7873 or click the button below for a free term life quote.
