Not legal advice. We paraphrased these Ohio statutes from the official Ohio Revised Code site on November 2, 2026, and read the Supreme Court of Ohio's opinion in full.
What is different in Ohio
Ohio writes its claim deadline into the policy itself: every life policy issued or delivered in the state must promise to settle a death claim within two months after proof of death. Ohio also pays interest on a lump-sum death benefit from the day the insured died, even when the claim is paid promptly. And Ohio is one of the hardest states for an insurer to rescind or deny over an application answer, because a statute requires the insurer to clearly prove fraud and several other elements.
One caution. Ohio’s best-known claim-handling rule, Ohio Adm. Code 3901-1-54, with its acknowledgment and decision deadlines, applies to property and casualty claims. It is not a life insurance rule, so do not rely on its deadlines for a death claim.
Contest period
An Ohio life policy must say that the policy and the attached application are the entire contract, and that it becomes incontestable once it has been in force during the insured’s lifetime for no more than two years from its date. The allowed exceptions are nonpayment of premium, wartime military, naval or aviation conditions, and, if the insurer chooses, the disability and accidental-death benefit provisions (R.C. 3915.05(C)). The policy must also say that the insured’s application statements are, absent fraud, representations rather than warranties (R.C. 3915.05(D)), and that an understated age is handled by paying what the premium would have bought at the correct age (R.C. 3915.05(E)).
Grace period and premium notices
Every premium after the first gets a one-month grace period. The insurance stays in force during that month, the insurer may charge interest, and if the insured dies during it, the overdue premium may be deducted from the payout (R.C. 3915.05(B)).
Ohio has no general statute requiring a lapse warning before coverage ends. A narrower rule, R.C. 3909.07, applies only to life insurers organized under another state’s or federal law. Those insurers must mail written notice of each premium after the first, between 10 and 60 days before it is due, to the insured or to an assignee or owner who pays the premium and lives in Ohio. The section does not apply to group insurance or to monthly or weekly premium policies, and proof of mailing to the last address on file is conclusive. If a policy lapsed, also look at the nonforfeiture options in R.C. 3915.05(H) and (J); a policy continued as other insurance after a default may be reinstated within three years.
The two-month payment rule
Every policy must provide that when the insured dies, “settlement shall be made upon receipt of due proof of death, or not later than two months after receipt of such proof” (R.C. 3915.05(K)). Because the deadline is a required policy term, a late payment is also a breach of the contract.
Interest from the date of death
Life insurers must pay interest on death proceeds, other than credit life, from the date of death to the date of payment (R.C. 3915.052(A)-(B)). The rate is the greater of:
- the annual short-term applicable federal rate in effect for the month of death; or
- the insurer’s current rate on proceeds left on deposit under the policy’s interest settlement option.
Interest is required only if the insured was an Ohio resident on the date of death and the beneficiary chose in writing, or had chosen for them in writing, a lump-sum payment (R.C. 3915.052(C)). The section does not let an insurer hold proceeds longer than R.C. 3915.05(K) allows or longer than reasonably necessary to send them (R.C. 3915.052(D)).
Application misstatements
R.C. 3911.06 is the center of Ohio misrepresentation law. No answer in an application can defeat recovery, or even be used as evidence at trial, unless it is clearly proved that the answer was:
- willfully false;
- fraudulently made;
- material;
- the inducement for issuing the policy;
- an answer without which the policy would not have issued; and
- false without the agent’s or company’s knowledge.
Separately, once an insurer has received three annual premiums on a policy issued on the life of someone in Ohio, it cannot defend a claim based on errors, omissions or misstatements in the application on any ground other than fraud, except as to age (R.C. 3911.07).
Unfair practices
R.C. 3901.21 defines unfair and deceptive insurance practices, enforced by the Superintendent of Insurance, including the use of a “pattern settlement” that assigns liability by formula without investigating the particular claim (division (P)).
Bad faith
Ohio recognizes a tort claim when an insurer refuses to pay in bad faith. In Zoppo v. Homestead Insurance Co., a fire claim, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that an insurer fails to act in good faith in processing a claim “where its refusal to pay the claim is not predicated upon circumstances that furnish reasonable justification therefor.” The court overruled an earlier decision that had made the insurer’s actual intent an element; intent is not required. It also reinstated a jury’s punitive-damages finding and held that a statute requiring the judge, not the jury, to set the amount of punitive damages violated the right to a jury trial. Zoppo, 71 Ohio St.3d 552, 1994-Ohio-461.
When the beneficiary caused the death
Under R.C. 2105.19(A), a person cannot benefit from a death if they were convicted of, pleaded guilty to, or were found not guilty by reason of insanity of aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter or certain involuntary manslaughter of the decedent, or complicity in it, or a substantially equivalent offense elsewhere. The bar also reaches a person indicted and then found incompetent to stand trial, and a juvenile found delinquent for such an act. Insurance proceeds pass as if that person died first, and anything they received is held as a constructive trustee (R.C. 2105.19(B)). A person barred only because of an incompetency or insanity finding may, within 60 days, ask the probate court to restore the right to benefit. The right is restored unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person would have been convicted (R.C. 2105.19(C)).
The section turns on a criminal outcome. It does not itself set out a civil route for barring someone never charged.
Divorce and beneficiary designations: 5815.33
Ohio’s rule, R.C. 5815.33, applies to designations under life insurance policies, annuities, payable-on-death accounts, individual retirement plans and employer death benefit plans. If a spouse names the other spouse as beneficiary and the marriage later ends by divorce, dissolution or annulment, the former spouse is deemed to have predeceased and the designation is revoked, unless the designation or the decree specifically provides otherwise. If the two remarry, the designation is not revoked, unless it no longer can be made.
A life insurance company that pays according to the designation is not liable if the payment was otherwise proper and it had no notice of the facts that caused the revocation (5815.33(C)). Federal law may control employer plans; see Egelhoff.
Worked example
An Ohio resident dies on March 3, 2026. The beneficiary elects a lump sum, and the insurer receives due proof of death on March 16. Under the policy terms R.C. 3915.05(K) requires, settlement is due no later than May 16. Whenever the insurer pays, it owes interest from March 3 to the payment date at the higher of the March 2026 short-term federal rate or the policy’s deposit rate. If the insurer instead denies the claim based on an application answer, it must be prepared to clearly prove every element of R.C. 3911.06, and, if three annual premiums were paid, that the misstatement was fraud.
Making a complaint
The Ohio Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints online: ODI Consumer Complaints Form. The form warns that complaints and attachments may be public records. A complaint does not pause any deadline to sue.
Sources
- Ohio Revised Code 2105.19, 3901.21, 3909.07, 3911.06, 3911.07, 3915.05 and 3915.052 (official text, Ohio Legislative Service Commission): codes.ohio.gov.
- Zoppo v. Homestead Ins. Co., 71 Ohio St.3d 552, 1994-Ohio-461 (official opinion PDF, Supreme Court of Ohio): supremecourt.ohio.gov. Read November 2, 2026.
- Ohio Revised Code 5815.33 (official text, Legislative Service Commission): codes.ohio.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.