In NC do you have to have an insurable interest in the beneficiary?

Answer 1

You've got it backwards. A beneficiary is the person who has to have an insurable interest in the insured, and that is standard insurance law, in North Carolina or anywhere else. In order to take out insurance on anyone you must have an insurable interest in that person. That does not mean you must have an insurable interest in the beneficiary. Some states do and some states do not. My question is does NC require an insurable interest in the beneficiary? OK, since you are still questioning this, here is the more detailed answer. A beneficiary, by definition, is not being insured; instead, he or she is the person who will receive the insurance payment (in the case of life insurance) when the insured person dies. Since the beneficiary is not being insured, there is no reason why anyone would be required to have an insurable interest in the beneficiary. The reason why insurable interest is required, is that life insurance is not intended to be a form of gambling, otherwise anybody could take out an insurance policy on anybody else. Insurable intersest means that you personally would be financially harmed by the death of a particular person. Children depend upon their parents and therefore have an obvious insurable interest in their parents. Even if the child has grown up and no longer depends upon the parent, that child still has an insurable interest in the parent, because when the parent dies, the child will probably have to pay for the funeral, and will have other expenses relating to that death. Whereas, if you wanted to take out a life insurance policy on a complete stranger, you have no insurable interest. An employer can take out life insurance on an employee, called "key person insurance" if it is thought that the death of that employee would cause financial problems to the company that employs him or her. The star of a motion picture would normally be insured by the movie company, since the death of that person could make it impossible to finish filming, and the money invested up to that point could be lost. That's how insurable interest works. The beneficiary HAS insurable interest in the insured, the insured does NOT have an insurable interest in the beneficiary.