This blog is co-authored by Kamogelo Madiba, a candidate attorney.
A May 2025 judgment dealt with life insurance claims where beneficiaries are suspected of involvement in the insured’s demise. The court made no finding but gave some useful reminders of the rights of the insured and the insurer.
During July 2021, the insured was murdered
The Financial Services Tribunal reconsidered the dismissal of an application for a life insurance business licence and found that one of the significant owners was not fit and proper in the sense of having the necessary financial standing required to support the business of the insurer.
A family investment trust owned 30% of the issued
This blog was co-authored by Maano Manavhela, Candidate Attorney.
A life insured, who suffered heart and arterial disease in April 2012 requiring a coronary stent and was paid 10% of a benefit amount, a bi-femoral bypass and paid 90% of the benefit amount in July 2012, was awarded another 100% of the benefit amount following
In this judgment the life insurer had rejected the life insured’s claim for an indemnity both on the basis that the insurance cover had expired on 30 November 2015 and that there was no evidence that the insured had become totally and permanently unable to perform his work as at that date, alternatively if the
In this judgment (dealt with here on material non-disclosure) the second material issue dealt with by the court was whether the insured truthfully represented his medical conditions in relation to his continued ability to work.
The insurer alleged that the insured did not tell either the insurer or the examining doctor that he could perform
In this judgment, the insured had two life policies with the insurer, which included life cover, severe illness benefits, and income continuation benefits.
The insured amended the policies a number of times, but on none of these occasions did the insured disclose that he had been diagnosed with and treated for clinical depression.
The
In this recent judgment the insurer rejected the life policy claim of the executor of the deceased estate relying on an exclusion in the policy that liability would not arise where death resulted from a condition that pre-existed the existence of the policy if that death occurred before the expiration of twelve months from the
According to a recent report, growth in the life insurance market globally has lagged behind the banking and manufacturing sectors and insurers are losing share to industry players not traditionally involved in life insurance. For example, asset management is being done by third party capital providers, marketing is being taken over by search engines like
An insurer who wants to avoid a policy must prove a material non-disclosure by the insured on a balance of probabilities.
That is normally done by way of leading oral evidence and the process of cross-examination. It is unusual, although not unheard of, for oral evidence to be dispensed with and questions of non-disclosure to