1. No life insurance contract upon an individual, except a contract of group life insurance, shall be made or effectuated unless at the time of the making of the contract the individual insured, being competent and of legal capacity to contract, applies therefor or has consented thereto in writing, except in the following cases:

(1) Any person having an insurable interest in the life of a minor, or any person upon whom a minor is dependent for support and maintenance, may effectuate insurance upon the life of, or pertaining to, the minor;

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 376.531

  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Director: the director of the department of commerce and insurance. See Missouri Laws 376.005
  • following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.

(2) Family policies may be issued insuring any two or more members of a family on an application signed by either parent, stepparent, or by a husband or wife.

2. An employer, or a trust which is sponsored by an employer for the benefit of its employees, shall have an insurable interest in each of the lives of the employer’s employees, directors or retired employees. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 376.691, the employer or trust may insure such employees’, directors’ or retired employees’ lives for such employer’s or trust’s benefit on an individual or group basis with the consent of the insured. The consent requirement shall be deemed to be satisfied if:

(1) The employee, director or retired employee is provided with a written notice that the employer or trust intends to obtain life insurance coverage with respect to such person’s life; and

(2) The employee, director or retired employee fails to provide written notification to the employer or trust, within thirty days from the date that the notice was transmitted, that such person does not consent to the employer obtaining life insurance coverage on such person’s life. It shall be unlawful for the employer or trust to retaliate against any person for refusing to consent to the issuance of life insurance on such person’s life.

3. The employer’s or trust’s insurable interest in nonmanagement and retired employees shall be limited to an amount of aggregate projected death benefits commensurate with the aggregate projected liabilities to such employees under all employee welfare benefit plans, as defined in 29 U.S.C. 1002(1). Calculations of life insurance benefits and welfare benefit liabilities shall be made in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles. Matching of life insurance benefits and welfare benefit liabilities may be done on a cash flow, present value or other appropriate basis.

4. For purposes of this section, the term “employer” means any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation or any other entity that is legally doing business in this state. The term shall also include all entities or persons which are controlled by or affiliated with any of the foregoing entities. The determination of whether any entity or person is controlled by or affiliated with another shall be made by applying the principles set forth in subsection (b) or (c) of section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as in effect on January 1, 1993, except that all references therein to eighty percent shall be changed to fifty-one percent.

5. This section shall not be interpreted to limit other insurable interests which may exist by statute or at common law. The provisions of this section shall apply to all insurance contracts in force on or after August 28, 1994.

6. Determination of the existence and extent of the insurable interest under any life insurance policy shall be made at the time the contract of insurance becomes effective but need not exist at the time the loss occurs.