Not legal advice. This is a plain-language summary of Florida statutes as shown on the Legislature's official Online Sunshine site on November 1, 2026. Statutes are amended often and outcomes depend on the facts and the policy.
What is different in Florida
Florida does not give life insurers a short countdown the way some states do. Instead, it makes delay expensive from the first day: interest on a lump-sum death benefit runs from the moment written proof of death arrives. Florida also protects older policyholders against an unnoticed lapse, and it has a statutory path to sue for bad faith that is open to life insurance beneficiaries by name.
Two-year contest limit
An individual life policy must become incontestable after it has been in force for two years during the insured’s lifetime, measured from the issue date. Nonpayment of premium is excepted, and the insurer may also except disability benefits and extra accidental-death coverage (§ 627.455).
Grace period and lapse warnings
Premiums after the first get at least 30 days of grace, with coverage continuing. The insurer may charge interest for the grace days, capped at 8% a year, and may subtract the overdue premium from a death claim that arises during grace (§ 627.453).
Section 627.4555 adds a notice rule for policies issued on or after October 1, 1997, that insure someone age 64 or older and have been in force at least a year. Such a policy may not lapse for nonpayment unless, after the grace period ends and at least 21 days before lapse, the insurer mails a notice to the owner and to any secondary addressee the owner named. When the grace period is longer than 51 days, the notice must go out at least 21 days before grace ends. Applicants must be told they can name that secondary addressee. Premiums paid monthly or more often through an agent, a credit card or an automatic draft are outside the rule.
Interest on the death benefit
When a death benefit is paid in one sum, the insurer must add interest from the date it receives written due proof of death. The rate may not be lower than Moody’s Corporate Bond Yield Average (Monthly Average Corporates) as of the day the claim came in. If Moody’s materially changes how it calculates that average from its January 1, 1993 method, the floor becomes 8% (§ 627.4615).
The Florida statutes reviewed for this page set no fixed number of days to pay a life claim. The interest rule above is the main cost of delay. The nearest timing rule is in the unfair claim settlement practices law: it is an unfair practice, when done often enough to be a general business practice, to fail to affirm or deny coverage, or to say in writing that the claim is being investigated, within 30 days after proof-of-loss statements are completed, if the insured asked in writing (§ 626.9541(1)(i)3.e).
Unfair claim settlement practices
Section 626.9541(1)(i) defines unfair claim settlement practices. Two apply even to a single claim: trying to settle based on an application that was altered without the insured’s knowledge, and making a material misrepresentation to anyone with an interest in the proceeds in order to settle for less than the policy provides. Others count when they happen often enough to be a general business practice, including:
- not adopting standards for properly investigating claims;
- not acknowledging and acting promptly on claim communications;
- denying a claim without a reasonable investigation;
- failing, after a written request, to affirm or deny coverage, or to state in writing that the claim is still being investigated, within 30 days after proof-of-loss statements are complete;
- not promptly explaining a denial in writing; and
- not promptly saying what further information is needed and why.
A violation of this paragraph is one of the grounds for the civil remedy described next (§ 624.155(1)(a)).
Application misstatements
Florida’s test has two routes. A misstatement, omission or concealment in the application prevents recovery if it was fraudulent or material to the risk the insurer accepted. It also prevents recovery if the insurer, in good faith, would not have issued the policy, would not have issued it at the same premium or for as much coverage, or would not have covered the hazard that caused the loss, had it known the truth (§ 627.409(1)). The second route does not require any intent to deceive, which makes underwriting guidelines central in a Florida rescission dispute.
Statutory bad faith
Section 624.155 lets a person damaged by an insurer sue when the insurer did not try in good faith to settle a claim when, under all the circumstances, it could and should have done so, or when it committed certain listed unfair practices. Before suing, the claimant must file a written notice on the state’s form with the Department of Financial Services and send it to the insurer. If the insurer pays the damages or fixes the problem within 60 days, the suit cannot go forward (§ 624.155(3)).
Changes made in 2023 say that negligence alone is not bad faith, and that the claimant’s own good faith in giving information and responding to settlement offers can be weighed (§ 624.155(5)). A prevailing plaintiff may recover damages, court costs and reasonable attorney fees (§ 624.155(7)). Punitive damages are possible only if violations happened often enough to be a general business practice and were willful, wanton, malicious, or in reckless disregard of rights, which the statute specifically extends to the rights of a beneficiary under a life insurance contract (§ 624.155(8)). A claimant may pursue this statutory remedy or a common-law one, but not both for the same conduct (§ 624.155(11)).
When the beneficiary caused the death
If a beneficiary kills the insured unlawfully and on purpose, that beneficiary takes nothing; the policy pays as if that person died first. A final murder conviction settles the question. Without one, a court weighs the evidence and decides which side is more convincing. An insurer that pays according to the policy is protected unless it received written notice of the claim at its home office before paying (§ 732.802(3), (5), (6)).
Designations of a former spouse: 732.703
Florida treats a designation of a spouse made before a divorce as void from the date the marriage is dissolved or declared invalid. The policy then pays as if the former spouse died first (Fla. Stat. 732.703). The section reaches life insurance, including coverage provided through an employee benefit plan, and it governs any death on or after July 1, 2012, no matter what year the designation was signed.
It does not apply to the extent controlling federal law provides otherwise; when the insured signed a new instrument after the divorce that expressly makes the former spouse the payee; when the dissolution order required the insured to acquire or keep the coverage for the former spouse or the children and no other asset meets that duty; when the order left the insured unable to change the designation alone; when the designation was irrevocable under applicable law; when another state’s law governs the instrument; or when the two remarried and were married to each other at the death (732.703(4)). Subsection (5) adds payment rules for insurers on coverage held within an employee benefit plan.
Worked example
An insured age 70 owns a policy issued in 2015 with annual premiums paid by check. The premium is due January 10 and the grace period runs 31 days to February 10. If it goes unpaid, the insurer must mail the lapse notice to the owner and the named secondary addressee after February 10 and at least 21 days before the policy can lapse, so coverage cannot end before about March 3. If the insured dies February 20 and the beneficiary’s written proof of death arrives on March 15, interest on a lump-sum payout begins accruing on March 15 at no less than the Moody’s average for that date, however long the review takes.
Making a complaint
The Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, takes concerns about life insurance claims on policies bought in Florida. Its page asks you to raise the problem with the insurer first and then submit the details online: Get Insurance Help (Florida DFS). The Division says it cannot give legal advice, decide disputed facts or value a claim, and filing does not pause the deadline to sue.
Not legal advice. This page summarizes general rules and the specific statutes cited. Your policy's wording, the state whose law applies, and whether the coverage came through an employer can all change the result. See the disclaimer and editorial policy.