Life Insurance Contestability Period Denials: What Insurers Can Investigate and What They Cannot

When a loved one dies, and a life insurance claim is submitted, families expect the policy to do what it was purchased to do. Yet many claims are suddenly placed under review or denied with a single phrase: contestability period. Insurers often use this window to re-examine the policy application and identify any grounds to deny coverage. For grieving families, it can feel as though the insurer is looking for excuses rather than honoring the contract.

Understanding what the contestability period really allows and what it does not is critical. While insurers do have investigation rights during this time, those rights are far more limited than most people realize.

What the Contestability Period Actually Is

Most life insurance policies include a two-year contestability period that begins on the policy’s issue date. During that time, the insurer may investigate whether the application contained misrepresentations or omissions. After the contestability period expires, the policy generally becomes incontestable, except for nonpayment of premiums or, in rare cases, fraud.

The purpose of this period is to give insurers a chance to verify the accuracy of what was disclosed. It is not a free pass to avoid paying legitimate claims.

What Insurers Are Allowed to Investigate

During the contestability period, insurers can review whether the insured made material misstatements in the coverage application. This includes things like undisclosed medical conditions, omitted diagnoses, inaccurate tobacco use statements, or incorrect answers about prior treatments.

However, the insurer must prove that any alleged misrepresentation was material, meaning it would have changed the underwriting decision. Not every mistake or omission qualifies. Minor errors, forgotten doctor visits, or conditions unrelated to the cause of death do not automatically justify rescinding a policy.

Insurers also cannot rely on vague or speculative allegations. They must have evidence, usually in the form of medical records, prescription histories, or underwriting files.

What Insurers Are Not Allowed to Do

Even within the contestability period, insurers do not have unlimited power.

They cannot deny claims based on innocent mistakes that did not affect risk. They cannot use medical information that was not requested in the application. They cannot rescind a policy without showing that the insured knew, or should have known, that the information was required. They also cannot ignore the role their own underwriting played in approving the policy.

If an insurer had access to medical records, pharmacy databases, or exam results at the time of underwriting and still issued the policy, it may be barred from later claiming it was misled.

How Contestability Investigations Are Often Abused

In practice, insurers frequently use the contestability period to delay or deny claims. They request years of medical records, order pharmacy searches, and comb through every appointment to find anything that could be framed as a discrepancy.

Families are often told the claim is under review for months while bills and expenses pile up. In many cases, the insurer ultimately denies the claim on technical grounds that do not meet the legal standard for rescission.

These tactics are widespread when the death occurs soon after the policy was issued or involves cancer, heart disease, or other serious illness.

How Denials Can Be Challenged

Contestability denials are not the end of the road. These cases often turn on whether the alleged misstatement was actually material and whether the insurer can meet its burden of proof.

Our attorneys examine the original application, underwriting file, medical history, and policy language to determine whether the insurer’s position is legally valid. In many cases, we can demonstrate that the insurer either asked the wrong questions, failed to underwrite the policy correctly, or relied on information that was never required to be disclosed.

When insurers misuse the contestability period, courts frequently order them to pay the full policy benefit.

Protecting Your Right to Life Insurance Proceeds

If your life insurance claim was denied based on the contestability period, you should not assume the insurer is right. These disputes are highly technical, and many denials do not hold up under legal scrutiny.

Our attorneys at Disability Insurance Law Group represent families nationwide in life insurance disputes. We know how insurers conduct contestability investigations and how to challenge them when they go too far.

Call 954-989-9000 or reach out online today for a free consultation. We can review your denial, explain your rights, and help you fight for the benefits your loved one intended for you to receive.