Life insurance is a common estate planning tool, whether it may be engaged to increase the assets available to beneficiaries, to assist in equalizing inheritances received by multiple beneficiaries (for instance, when one child will receive an interest in a family business and other assets are not available to leave an equal benefit for other children), or to fund specific types of expenses that will become payable upon death. While the owner of a life insurance policy is more often than not the person whose life is insured, this is not always the case. In Canada, in order to purchase a life insurance policy on another person’s life, the policy owner must have an “insurable interest” in the policy subject’s life. Canada’s Insurance Act defines an insurable interest as follows:
Without restricting the meaning of “insurable interest”, a person, in this section called the “primary person”, has an insurable interest,
(a) in the case of a primary person who is a natural person, in his or her own life and in the lives of,
(i) the primary person’s child or grandchild,
(ii) the primary person’s spouse,
(iii) a person on whom the primary person is wholly or partly
dependent for, or from whom the primary person is receiving, support or education,
(iv) the primary person’s employee, and
(v) a person in the duration of whose life the primary person has a pecuniary interest; and
(b) in the case of a primary person that is not a natural person, in the lives of,
(i) a director, officer or employee of the primary person, and
(ii) a person in the duration of whose life the primary person has a pecuniary interest.
Other jurisdictions similarly allow individuals or companies to take out life insurance policies on the life of another on the basis of an insurable interest in certain circumstances. As David Freedman mentioned in his recent blog post, Disney had a life insurance policy worth $50 million in American funds on the life of Carrie Fisher as one of the stars of the Star Wars franchise, which Disney purchased in 2012 for $4 billion. This is reported to be the largest ever payout of a life insurance policy of this kind.
There is much speculation with respect to how Disney will fill the void left by Fisher’s death in the final entry in the current Star Wars trilogy (Fisher had apparently finished filming for Episode VIII prior to her passing). Some suggest that the script for the following installment will be drastically re-written as a result of Fisher’s absence. Others have referred to the posthumous appearance of Peter Cushing in Star Wars: Rogue One (I personally had no idea that it was not the original actor himself until I read Suzana’s blog on the topic) in support of the potential to use CGI technology to allow Princess-turned-General Leia Organa to appear again in Episode IX. As done with Cushing in Rogue One, Disney could, in theory, digitally impose Fisher’s face onto another actor’s body. In any event, the life insurance proceeds payable to Disney will no doubt assist in offsetting any loss that it will suffer as a result of Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing.
Have a nice weekend.
Other articles that you may enjoy reading:
Personality Rights After Death
Tupac or Not Tupac: That is the Question
How Can Life Insurance Supplement an Estate Plan?