Not legal advice. We paraphrased these Louisiana statutes from the Legislature's official site on November 1, 2026. Louisiana amended its claim-handling laws in 2024, and courts are still applying those changes.
What is different in Louisiana
Louisiana has a dedicated life-claim payment statute with a 60-day deadline, which is unusual. It also went through a significant change in 2024: the statute beneficiaries once cited for bad-faith penalties, R.S. 22:1973, was repealed, and the replacement rules in R.S. 22:1892 expressly leave out life insurance. Older articles describing double-damages penalties for life claims may no longer reflect current law.
Contest period
Individual life policies must become incontestable after two years in force during the insured’s lifetime, measured from issue, except for nonpayment and violations of military or naval service conditions. The insurer may also except disability and accidental-death benefits (R.S. 22:931(A)(2)). Incontestability blocks attacks on the policy’s validity, but it does not stop the insurer from applying a permitted exclusion or adjusting for a misstated age (R.S. 22:931(B)(4)).
Grace period and premium notices
Premiums after the first carry a grace period of 30 days, or one month if the insurer chooses, and the policy stays in force. If the insured dies in that window, the unpaid premium, with interest of up to 6% a year, may come out of the benefit (R.S. 22:931(A)(1)).
R.S. 22:905 adds a mailed-notice rule for policies other than group coverage, those paid monthly or weekly, and term policies of one year or less. During the first year after a missed payment, the insurer may not declare such a policy lapsed unless it mailed a notice to the owner, and to any assignee it knows about, 15 to 45 days before the payment came due, stating the amount and where to pay it. Even then, the policy cannot lapse until 30 days after mailing. A suit claiming a policy was wrongly forfeited must be filed within two years of the missed payment.
Settlement deadline and interest
Two statutes govern money owed on a Louisiana death claim:
- R.S. 22:1811: the insurer must settle within 60 days after it receives due proof of death. If it does not, and lacks just cause, the benefit earns 8% a year from the day proof was received until payment.
- R.S. 22:908: separately, interest on life benefits begins 20 days after due proof of death is received, at the rate the insurer pays on money left on deposit. This section does not cover accidental death and dismemberment claims or certain home service insurers.
The 2024 change to bad-faith law
Act 3 of the 2024 Regular Session repealed R.S. 22:1973 effective July 1, 2024, and placed an insurer’s duty of good faith and fair dealing in R.S. 22:1892(I). That subsection allows economic damages and, for many claims, a penalty of up to 50% of damages or $5,000, whichever is larger, plus fees. Section 22:1892 also now imposes a good-faith duty on claimants (subsection J). However, subsection K states that section 22:1892 does not apply to claims under life and health and accident policies.
The practical result: for a Louisiana death claim, the statutory late-payment remedy is the 8% interest under R.S. 22:1811.
Unfair claims settlement practices
R.S. 22:1964(14) lists practices that are unlawful when done often enough to be a general business practice. Among them: misstating facts or policy terms, not acknowledging claim communications promptly, refusing to pay without a reasonable investigation, not affirming or denying coverage within a reasonable time after proof of loss, not trying in good faith to settle once liability is reasonably clear, making a claimant file both a preliminary report and formal proof forms containing essentially the same information, failing to explain a denial, and failing to supply claim forms within 15 calendar days of a request.
Misrepresentation
In a written life insurance application, statements are treated as representations unless there was fraud. Under R.S. 22:860(B), a false statement bars recovery in two situations: the applicant actually meant to deceive, or the falsehood made a material difference to the insurer’s decision to take on the risk or to the hazard it accepted.
When the beneficiary caused the death
A beneficiary is disqualified if a final judgment holds that person criminally responsible for the insured’s death, or if a court finds the person took part in an intentional, unjustified killing. The proceeds then go to the contingent beneficiary or, if none, to the estate, and a pardon does not change the outcome (R.S. 22:901(D)).
Divorce and life insurance designations: 22:911.1
Since August 1, 2024, Louisiana has had a life-insurance-specific divorce rule. In every life or endowment policy and annuity contract, a divorce revokes a revocable designation of the former spouse if the divorce came after the designation, the two were still divorced at the death, and no judgment or property-settlement agreement expressly says otherwise. The proceeds are then paid as though the former spouse died first (La. R.S. 22:911.1(A)).
The timing matters. Act 2024, No. 94 says it applies prospectively only and does not reach beneficiaries named before the Act’s effective date, so an older designation of an ex may still stand. An insurer that pays in good faith before it receives written notice of the divorce, judgment or settlement, and before it has had a reasonable time to act on that notice, is not liable for the payment (22:911.1(B)). For employer plans under ERISA, see Egelhoff.
Worked example
An insured with an annual-premium whole life policy dies in October 2026. The beneficiary’s claim packet, including a certified death certificate, reaches the insurer on November 2. Interest at the deposit rate starts November 22, 20 days later, under R.S. 22:908. The insurer has until January 1, 2027, 60 days after receipt, to settle. If it pays on March 1, 2027, with no just cause for the delay, the benefit carries 8% a year counted from November 2. Because the 2024 bad-faith penalties in R.S. 22:1892 do not reach life claims, that interest is the statutory remedy for the late payment.
Making a complaint
The Louisiana Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints through its online form: ldi.la.gov consumer complaint form. Include the policy number, the claim number, the date the insurer received proof of death and copies of the correspondence.
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.