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Ins. Code, § 10295.5 · Article 2.1. Accelerated Death Benefits

Ins. Code, § 10295.5

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) Applications, if any, or forms supporting an application, if any, for accelerated death benefits shall contain clear, unambiguous, short, and simple questions designed to ascertain the health condition of the applicant. Each health-related question shall contain only one health status inquiry and shall require only a “yes” or “no” answer, except that the application may include a request for the name of any prescribed medication and the name of the prescribing physician. If the application requests the name of any prescribed medication or the prescribing physician, then any mistake or omission shall not be used as a basis for the denial of a claim or the rescission of the accelerated death benefit or life insurance policy or certificate.

(b) The following warning shall be printed conspicuously and in close conjunction with the applicant’s signature block:

“Caution: If your answers on this application are misstated or untrue, the insurer may have the right to deny benefits or rescind your accelerated death benefit coverage.”

(c) If an insurer does not complete medical underwriting for the accelerated death benefit separate from underwriting for the life insurance policy and resolve all reasonable questions arising from information submitted on or with an application before issuing the accelerated death benefit, then the insurer may only rescind the accelerated death benefit or life insurance policy or certificate or deny an otherwise valid claim upon clear and convincing evidence of fraud or material misrepresentation of the risk by the applicant. The evidence shall do all of the following:

(1) Pertain to the condition for which benefits are sought.

(2) Involve a chronic condition or involve dates of treatment before the date of application.

(3) Be material to the acceptance for coverage.

(d) An accelerated death benefit may not be field issued.

(e) The contestability period for a life insurance policy or certificate that contains an accelerated death benefit shall comply with paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 10271.

(f) A copy of the completed application shall be delivered to the insured at the time of delivery of the life insurance policy or certificate that contains an accelerated death benefit.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 98, Sec. 8. (AB 2180) Effective January 1, 2019.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=INS&sectionNum=10295.5.
Text hash
sha256 6dfc6c564d0882c8fc66ee97ba17bd5c4415d0c3c987152902ba2bfd2bddfbd4
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.