The Life Insurance Pro

What is a contestability period?

The contestability period is a short window in which insurance companies can investigate the legitimacy of your application and deny coverage or even a claim.
When you apply for life insurance you sign a contract, this contract has a contestability period. For the most part contestability periods are of 2 years from the date your policy goes into effect. The contestability period will vary from the company and the state the policy is issued at. This period can be anywhere from 1 to 3 years. Ask your agent about the contestability period to find out how long is the contestability period in your policy.
Life insurance companies have a contestability period to protect themselves from fraud. Believe it or not even today, people try to commit fraud with life insurance. By law, companies have the contestability period to investigate the legitimacy of your application and deny you coverage or even a claim if they find out you lied on the application.
Now that you know that there is a contestability period you should know about the incontestability clause. Most life insurance policies include an incontestability clause that prevents the life insurance companies from voiding coverage due to a misstatement by the insured after a specific amount of time has passed. This means that after the contestability period, that your policy contract states, the policy is to be incontestable.
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