McDonald v. Columbian National Life Insurance

Citations

• 253 Pa. 239
• 97 A. 1086
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 814

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — 'Policies — Lapse — Beneficiaries — Bights.</p> <p>1. Except as otherwise provided, the nonpayment when due of the premium on a life insurance policy causes a forfeiture thereof.</p> <p>' 2, An option to purchase extended term insurance with the cash surrender value of an insurance policy, upon tbe failure of tbe insured to pay a premium when due, is personal to the insured, and cannot be exercised after the rights and liabilities of the parties have been fixed by his death.</p> <p>3. Where a policy of life insurance provided that after thirty days’ default in payment of a premium the policy should lapse, and under the statute of Massachusetts, where the policy was issued, a lapsed policy automatically became a paid-up life policy and the insured allowed the policy to lapse and while negotiations for its reinstatement were pending the insured died, the beneficiary was not entitled to recover the face value of the policy but only the paid-up value; it wag not material that the insured might have exercised an option to purchase extended life insurance for a term of years where the option was not in fact exercised by him.</p>