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Life Insurance After a Suicide Attempt
April 07, 2020
If you attempted suicide, or you entertained suicidal thoughts and shared your thoughts with a physician, know that we can still help you find the best life insurance companies offering the best life insurance rates. The key is knowing where to look.
Now not every suicide attempt is caused by depression but in the majority of cases it is at least one factor that leads to someone attempting suicide. Depression is a serious illness that sometimes results in a person taking his or her own life.
Does life insurance pay for suicide death?
The short answer is yes, life insurance pays for death by suicide after the exclusion period, which is typically 2 years.
Life insurance companies each have their own rules and clauses, and these may even differ from policy to policy under the same insurance company.
Some insurance companies may have special stipulations. For example, if a person had been diagnosed with depression prior to buying life insurance, the company may have charged a premium for death in the event of suicide.
It is also common for a life insurance policy to have a clause stating that it will not honor a policy in the event of suicide within the first year or two of holding the policy. If suicide occurs after the stated time period, the life insurance company will then render the policy valid. This is a very common practice among life insurance companies.
Even if your life insurance company has not asked you any questions pertaining to suicide and/or depression, this two-year suicide exclusion clause may be listed in the fine print.
It is important to remember that whenever you buy one of the different types of life insurance policies, you read all of the fine print so that you know exactly what you are getting into, and what possible factors may make your life insurance policy null and void.
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Can I get life insurance after attempting suicide?
Whenever you apply for a life insurance policy, it is the company’s job to investigate and analyze the risk factors, and then determine whether or not to issue a policy, and what amount to charge based on the assumed risk.
Your history of suicide attempt(s) may be considered high-risk life insurance, but it does not necessarily disqualify you from getting coverage. It may result in a higher premium, but chances are you will still be able to find some coverage through at least a few different life insurance companies.
Prior to offering you coverage, the life insurance company is likely to consider:
- How long ago the suicide attempt happened
- Whether or not any external factors contributed to the suicide attempt (i.e. certain medications such as that for malaria have been proven to increase suicidal tendencies)
- Whether or not you have since sought out professional help
- If there is a history of suicide in your family
Once the insurance company assesses the risk, it will determine whether it will offer you a policy or not and if there will be an additional premium assessed to you.
Note that not all life insurance companies will not come to the same conclusion. One life insurance company may reject you while another gives you coverage without an increased premium; it’s completely up to the company, and each of them will handle a suicide attempt differently.
Conclusion
Before you buy a life insurance policy, the best thing to do is shop around. There are many different life insurance companies in the market, all of them offering various policies. The restrictions and clauses for various life factors such as suicidal tendencies will be different from one life insurance company to the next.
Only by comparing multiple life insurance companies will you find the right company and policy for you and your needs, and hopefully get the best coverage for your personal situation.
