Not legal advice. This page summarizes Kansas Statutes Annotated as published by the Kansas Revisor of Statutes, plus one Kansas Supreme Court decision. It does not cover Kansas regulations or the many later decisions applying these sections.
What sets Kansas apart
- A 10-day interest trigger. Interest starts accruing on proceeds still unpaid 10 days after the insurer receives proof of death (K.S.A. 40-447).
- The “contributed to” rule. A misstatement in obtaining a life policy cannot void it unless what was misstated actually contributed to the death (40-418).
- Fees, not a tort. Kansas courts award attorney fees for refusals “without just cause or excuse” (40-256), and Spencer v. Aetna rejected a separate first-party bad-faith tort.
Interest on late proceeds
Section 40-447 applies “notwithstanding any other provision of law.” If a life insurer admitted in Kansas fails or refuses to pay within 10 days after receiving due proof of death in the form the policy requests, it owes interest on the unpaid amount:
- Rate: at least the insurer’s current rate on death proceeds left on deposit, plus 1% a year.
- Start date: computed from the date the proof was received, not from day 10.
- Notice: the insurer must tell the named beneficiary, at the last known address, that interest will be paid and at what rate.
- Exception: none is owed if the beneficiary elects in writing to take the money other than as a lump sum.
The statute also says it does not let an insurer hold payment longer than reasonably needed to transmit it (40-447(b)). Kansas policies must state that settlement is made on receipt of due proof of death (40-420(10)).
Incontestability and application statements
Individual policies must provide that, with the application attached, the policy is the entire contract and becomes incontestable after it has been in force during the insured’s lifetime for no more than two years from its date. Exceptions are nonpayment of premium, violations of any military or aviation conditions, and, at the company’s option, disability and accidental-death benefits (40-420(2)). The same provision says statements by the insured are, absent fraud, representations rather than warranties, and none may be used to defend a claim unless it appears in a written application endorsed on or attached to the policy.
A reinstated policy may be contested only for fraud or material misrepresentation in the reinstatement, and only for the same period as at original issue (40-420(9)).
Misrepresentation: the 1907 rule
K.S.A. 40-418 dates to a 1907 statute. It says no misrepresentation made in obtaining a life policy on a Kansas citizen “shall be deemed material or render the policy void unless the matter misrepresented shall have actually contributed to the contingency or event on which the policy is to become due and payable.” In practice that asks whether the misstated condition or fact played a part in the death, not just whether the insurer would have underwritten differently.
Two further points:
- Premium deposit. A misrepresentation defense in a suit on a life policy is not valid unless the insurer, at or before trial, deposits the premiums it received in court for the plaintiff (40-419).
- Fraud. How 40-418 interacts with fraud, with fraternal policies and with Kansas cases construing it is not addressed here; the Revisor’s annotations list decades of decisions. Ask a Kansas lawyer before assuming the rule decides your case.
Grace period
Premiums after the first are payable in advance, with a grace period of at least 30 days during which the policy remains in full force. If the insured dies during grace, the insurer may deduct the overdue premium and any unpaid installments of that policy year’s annual premium (40-420(1)).
We did not find a Kansas statute among those reviewed that limits suicide exclusions; check the policy wording.
Attorney fees: K.S.A. 40-256
When a judgment is entered against an insurer on any policy, and the evidence shows it refused without just cause or excuse to pay the full amount of the loss, the court shall award the plaintiff a reasonable attorney fee, including on appeal, taxed as costs. The exception: if the insurer tendered an amount before suit and the recovery does not exceed it, no fee is awarded.
Unfair claim settlement practices
K.S.A. 40-2404(9) defines fourteen unfair claim practices, (a) through (n). A violation requires that the conduct be committed flagrantly and in conscious disregard of the statute, or often enough to show a general business practice. Among them:
- refusing claims without a reasonable investigation based on all available information (d);
- failing to affirm or deny within a reasonable time after proof-of-loss statements are completed (e);
- not trying in good faith for a prompt, fair and equitable settlement once liability is reasonably clear (f);
- making payments to beneficiaries without a statement of the coverage paid (j);
- failing to promptly give a reasonable explanation of the policy basis for a denial (n).
Enforcement runs through the Commissioner of Insurance.
Spencer v. Aetna: no first-party tort
In Spencer v. Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co., 227 Kan. 914, 611 P.2d 149 (1980), the federal district court certified to the Kansas Supreme Court whether Kansas recognizes a tort of bad faith in a first-party case (a fire loss to the insured’s house). The court observed that in first-party claims the insurer and insured are adversaries, not fiduciaries, and reviewed the statutory remedies: a contract action with interest and costs, fees under 40-256, and Insurance Department enforcement of 40-2404(9). It stated that it did not call the legislative remedy exclusive, but, absent a stronger showing of inadequacy, held those remedies adequate and that “the tort of bad faith is not recognized in Kansas.” Spencer involved a property policy and a 1980 record; whether later Kansas law has changed the picture for a particular life claim is a question for a lawyer.
Group life conversion
Kansas group life policies must contain (40-434):
- Leaving the group. When coverage ends because employment or eligibility ends, the person may buy an individual policy without evidence of insurability, in any form the company customarily issues except term, by applying and paying within 31 days (40-434(8)).
- Policy termination. If the group policy itself ends or drops a class, conversion is available to those insured for at least five years before the termination (40-434(9)).
For employer plans governed by federal law, see employer group life.
Time to sue
An action on a written contract must be brought within five years (K.S.A. 60-511(1)). Check the policy for its own suit clause, and do not wait on a Department complaint.
Slayer rule: conviction required
K.S.A. 59-513(a) bars a person convicted of feloniously killing, or procuring the killing of, another from taking any of the decedent’s property, including as a designated beneficiary. Two features are specific to Kansas:
- Murder-suicide. If a person kills a spouse and then dies by suicide, both estates pass as if the deaths were simultaneous (59-513(b)).
- Freezing proceeds before trial. A court may, on its own motion or a party’s written request, and ex parte on a showing of charges, prohibit a person who has been arrested for or charged with the killing from selling, spending or using the property, including proceeds. The order ends on dismissal, acquittal, conviction or other disposition, or expungement (59-513(c)).
Because the bar turns on a conviction, a family facing an unresolved charge should consider asking for a 59-513(c) order and telling the insurer in writing.
Ex-spouse named on the policy: K.S.A. 59-105
Kansas added a divorce-revocation section to its probate code in 2019 (L. 2019, ch. 44). Under K.S.A. 59-105(b), which by its terms operates on and after July 1, 2019, a divorce or annulment revokes a revocable disposition to the former spouse, or to that spouse’s relatives, in a document the insured executed before the divorce. A designation survives where the document’s express terms, a court order or a marital property contract says so. A decree of separation that leaves the parties married does not count.
Insurers are protected for good-faith payments made before they receive written notice of the claimed revocation. That notice must be mailed by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the payor’s main office or home, or served like a summons (59-105(f)). Where federal law preempts the section for a particular asset, the section steps aside for that asset only (59-105(h)); employer plans are the usual example (Egelhoff).
A worked example
The insured dies in Wichita, and the insurer receives complete proof of death on March 2. It pays on April 20 without mentioning interest. Under 40-447, the beneficiary may ask for interest from March 2, not March 12, at least at the company’s deposit rate plus 1%. If the company had denied the claim because the insured understated his blood pressure on the application, but he died in a car crash, 40-418 would be the starting point for the response, and any later suit would require the insurer to deposit the premiums to keep that defense.
Filing a complaint
The Kansas Insurance Department accepts consumer complaints online: File an Insurance Complaint (Kansas Insurance Department). A complaint does not stop the five-year clock.
Sources
- Kansas Statutes Annotated chapters 40, 59 and 60, Kansas Revisor of Statutes: ksrevisor.gov.
- Kansas Insurance Department, File an Insurance Complaint: insurance.kansas.gov. (search listing).
- Spencer v. Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co., 227 Kan. 914, 611 P.2d 149 (1980) (full opinion, CourtListener): courtlistener.com. Read November 3, 2026.
- K.S.A. 59-105 (Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes): ksrevisor.gov.
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.