The person dies and is gone, leaving behind a family or loved ones to greive. The emotional turmoil on the death of a loved one can be considered a little too much for people to bear and in addition to this there is a financial struggle that happens due to the taxes or the funeral expenses or after the immediate needs are met, the sustenance of standards of living of the family. You can save your loved ones from the financial struggle at least, by purchasing a life insurance policy during your life time, the benefits of which paid to the beneficiary after your death would help ease the financial trouble the family might face after your death. This is in case of death. In case of an illness which has occurred, having a health insurance policy would come to help, as it would pay for the medical expenses, which also would crunch your pocket if you dont have insurance.

Purchasing the life insurance policy is a difficult task. With a lot of competition in the insurance sector, insurers offer a lot of discounts. You might get an insurance with the same conditions at two different rates from different insurers.

Understanding the language mentioned in the life insurance policy would help you decide which policy you want to purchase and also what all situations are covered and what is not covered under the policy. This is also important as communication between you and the insurer would also be in terms of these terms.

The policy is a contract between the insurer and the policy owner. The policy owner is the applicant of the policy and could be same or different from the insured. The insured is the person on whose life the policy

exists. This is to say that when you are insuring your life, you are the policy owner as well as the insured, but in case you are life insurance policy your spouse, you are the policy owner and the insured is your spouse. The face amount, the premium, cash values, nonforfieture values and other terms and conditions are all mentioned in the policy. The face amount is the amount which is mentioned in the policy as the benefit that would be paid on the death of the insured. This face amount will be paid to the beneficiary as mentioned on the policy. The beneficiary is the person nominated on the policy as the person who is designated to have the benefits paid to. The policy goes into effect from the effective date, that is the protection under the policy starts on this date .The policy lapses, i.e is terminated in case of non payment of premium. Usually a grace period is offered by the insurer for the payment of premium, which is a period of time after the due date for payment of the regular premium. The policy lapses only if the premium is not paid even after the grace period. Policy proceeds are the actual amount that is paid on the death of the insured. This would include the face amount as well as any dividends that have been accumulated during the period of policy and after deduction of loans that exists on the basis of the policy. Surrender charges are the fees charged by the insurer if the policy owner decides to terminate the policy. The policy is surrendered and the surrender charges are deducted from the cash value of the policy and the rest of the amount is paid to the policy owner. Premium is the amount that the policy owner pays to the insurer to keep the policy in existence. The premium could be a single payment or a series of payments which could be done monthly, quarterly or annually.

Whatever the terms and conditions between the policy owner and the insurer are, it would be mentioned on the policy. These are called provisions of the policy. Entire contract provision states that the policy itself, along with the application and the supporting documents provided by the policy owner would constitute the whole agreement between the policy owner and the insurer. The grace period which is usually 30 days after the due date of the premium would also be mentioned on the policy. It would be mentioned on the policy that if the premium is paid during the grace period also, the insurer would consider this as the payment done on time. The incontestable clause mentioned on the policy states that after the policy have been in existence for a certain period of time, usually two years, it cannot be considered void for any reasons except for non payment of premiums. This is usually not applicable to certain accidental insurance and disability benefits. There is also a provision in the policy regarding misstatement of the age of the insured. If it comes to the notice of the insurer during any period of the policy after it has become effective that the age of the insured had been stated incorrectly while the life insurance policy was applied for, the policy cannot be terminated. Rather the face amount would be adjusted according to the correct age. The face amount would be either increased or decreased as the actual premium would buy, when the policy was issued. There is also a reinstatement provision in the policy according to which the policy owner can initiate a process to restore a policy which has lapsed due to non payment of premium even after the grace period. This is usually a long period of time, usually three years after the policy has lapsed. The policy might have a rider, which is a written agreement which modifies the terms and conditions of the policy. The rider is a part of policy, once it is purchased. Adding a rider to a policy might add some benefits to the existing basic policy and it would also mean paying a little more as premium. There is a suicide clause also mentioned on the policy which states that in case the insured commits suicide within a specified period of time, usually two years, only a return of the premium would be paid to the policy owner and no benefits would be paid.

These are generally the terms and conditions on a life insurance policy. Understanding these terms would help you communicate better with the agents of the insurers as well understand the policy which you have purchased.