RCW 48.18.030 Insurable Interest-Personal Insurances-Nonprofit Organizations-Rules

• Library: Washington Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through the 2023 1st Special Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: RCW 48.18.030

(1) Any individual of competent legal capacity may insure his or her own life or body for the benefit of any person. A person may not insure the life or body of another individual unless the benefits under the contract are payable to the individual insured or the individual's personal representative, or to a person having, at the time when the contract was made, an insurable interest in the individual insured.

(2) If the beneficiary, assignee or other payee under any contract made in violation of this section receives from the insurer any benefits accruing upon the death, disability, or injury of the individual insured, the individual insured or the individual's executor or administrator may maintain an action to recover any benefits from the person receiving them.

(3)

(a) "Insurable interest" as used in this section and in RCW 48.18.060 includes only the following interests:

(i) In the case of individuals related closely by blood or by law, a substantial interest engendered by love and affection; and

(ii) In the case of other persons, a lawful and substantial economic interest in having the life, health, or bodily safety of the individual insured continue, as distinguished from an interest that would arise only by, or would be enhanced in value by, the death, disability, or injury of the individual insured.

(b) An individual who is party to a contract or option for the purchase or sale of an interest in a business partnership or firm, or of shares of stock of a close corporation or of an interest in those shares, has an insurable interest in the life of each individual party to the contract and for the purposes of that contract only, in addition to any insurable interest that may otherwise exist as to the life of such individual.

(c) A guardian, trustee, or other fiduciary has an insurable interest in the life of any person for whose benefit the fiduciary holds property, and in the life of any other individual in whose life the person has an insurable interest.

(d) Subject to rules adopted under subsection (4) of this section, upon joint application with a nonprofit organization for, or transfer to a nonprofit organization of, an insurance policy on the life of a person naming the organization as owner and beneficiary, a nonprofit organization's interest in the life of a person if:

(i) The nonprofit organization was established exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, or to promote amateur athletic competition, to conduct testing for public safety, or to prevent cruelty to children or animals; and