My mother is convinced she can’t get a policy (just for burial purposes) because she has degenerative disc disease and that it would be too expensive.

 

  • mbrcatz 9:01 am on February 15, 2010

    No, you cannot do this without her permission and consent.

    She’s wrong, though – she can buy a "guaranteed issue" low payout ($10,000) policy from Globe Life or Mutual of Omaha. She has to live at least two years, paying in, before they’ll pay a death benefit.

    It’s going to be pricey, though, she’s right about that.

  • Xander 9:02 am on February 15, 2010

    I do believe you can, but i am not 100 percent sure. My father was incarcerated, and I got life insurance on him without his consent or knowledge. I just had to have all of his information.

    Everything, D.O.B., social security number, i can’t remember it all, but it’s alot.
    But back to the original question, I do believe you can, and I would suggest it because it, not just because of burial purposes, but other circumstances that may come up later.
    If not, you may want to convince her to get it anyway and help with the payments if possible.
    I’ve seen firsthand what deaths can do to a family when no one has a policy. Its distressing to say the least.

  • douglas 9:02 am on February 15, 2010

    NO

  • jlf 9:02 am on February 15, 2010

    No. Her cooperation and concurrence is required. If she can’t get (or doesn’t want to get) life insurance, she can look into buying a prepaid funeral plan.

  • Bright Future Penguin 9:02 am on February 15, 2010

    Ralph,

    Great question, and it’s one on a lot of people’s minds. Generally speaking the answer is no.

    To buy life insurance on another person without their consent is usually only possible if the individual is a minor and you are their parent or guardian (such as when you might buy one of those Gerber Life policies you might have seen advertised on television.)

    Buying a life insurance policy on an adult is a whole different situation. They must often undergo physical exams, questions about their health and history, even driving history checks and medical records checks. All of those things require the consent of the insured and their signature.

    Even if you find a policy that requires no physical exam or medical questions (also rare, and usually only for very small amounts of insurance, and often from very shady companies, though not always) it’s almost always a requirement in every state that the person whose life is to be insured sign a document giving permission for someone else to own life insurance on their life.

    This became important due to a relatively despicable practice on the part of some major companies, like Wal-mart, who would buy huge group life insurance plans on their employees with the COMPANY named as the beneficiary without the employees knowing about it. Employees would die and the company would make money. They called it (I am not making this up) "Dead Peasant Insurance" or "Dead Janitor Insurance" because of the low regard they hold for their rank-and-file employees.

    When this practice came to light and the public learned that this low-income earning families were left penniless upon the death of a breadwinner while their employer made money from having insured the deceased’s life without the consent of the employee at all, never giving a cent to the family, there was a huge backlash. New regulations sprang onto the books almost overnight to put an end to the practice of OOLI (Other Owned Life Insurance) or SOLI (Stranger Owned Life Insurance) without specific, written consent of the insured person.

  • BrokerGopher.com 9:02 am on February 15, 2010

    "Bright Future…" couldn’t have said it better. I am a former insurance agent as well. If you want – you can quote life insurance (even annuities) at http://www.BrokerGopher.com. I promise you it’s fast and easy, and, we work with reputable licensed agents.

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