Not legal advice. We paraphrased these provisions from the Code of Virginia and the Virginia Administrative Code on the General Assembly's official site on November 2, 2026.
What is different in Virginia
Three rules shape a Virginia death claim. The Bureau of Insurance’s claim regulation gives the insurer only 15 calendar days after it receives a properly executed proof of loss to accept or deny the claim. The application-misstatement statute puts a “clearly proved” burden on the insurer but asks only whether the answer was untrue and material, not whether the applicant meant to deceive. And Virginia’s slayer statute contains a rule many states lack: if the killer took out the policy as part of the plan, the insurer is off the hook for deaths within two years of issue.
Contest period
An individual Virginia life policy must become incontestable, except for nonpayment of premiums, once it has been in force during the insured’s lifetime for two years from its issue date. Disability benefits and extra accidental-death coverage may be carved out of that promise (Va. Code § 38.2-3305).
Group policies follow a parallel rule with two added protections for the person covered. A statement about a covered person’s insurability cannot be used to contest that person’s coverage after it has been in force for two years during that person’s lifetime, and it cannot be used at all unless it is in a written instrument the person signed (§ 38.2-3326(B)).
Application misstatements: “clearly proved” and material
Virginia treats every statement in an insurance application, or in an application for reinstatement, as a representation rather than a warranty. No statement in the application, or in an affidavit made before or after the loss, bars recovery “unless it is clearly proved that such answer or statement was material to the risk when assumed and was untrue” (§ 38.2-309).
Two features matter in practice:
- The burden is on the insurer. The statute requires that both untruth and materiality be “clearly proved.”
- Intent is not an element. Unlike states that require intent to deceive, the statute’s text lets an insurer win on an innocent but untrue and material answer, if it clears the “clearly proved” bar.
The policy itself must say that, absent fraud, the insured’s statements are representations, and that no statement can be used to defend a claim unless it is in a written application endorsed on or attached to the policy when issued or delivered. “Policy” includes riders, endorsements and amendments (§ 38.2-3304). If the insurer is relying on an answer that is not in the attached application, that is worth raising.
Grace period and the pre-lapse notice
Every premium after the first gets at least 31 days of grace, beginning on the due date, and the policy stays in force during it. The insurer may charge up to 6% a year interest for the grace days used. If the insured dies during the grace period, the insurer may subtract the earned overdue premium, through the policy month of death, from the benefit (§ 38.2-3303).
Section 38.2-232 adds a written notice before an individual policy lapses for nonpayment. The notice goes to the policy owner, and the statute has two broad exceptions. It does not apply if the insurer, as a general business practice, sends written premium-due notices, or if it gave the owner a separate written notice, outside the policy itself, that late payment will cause a lapse. Group coverage is excluded. The statute does not require notice to a third-party designee.
After a default, if the policy’s value was applied automatically to buy other insurance under its nonforfeiture terms, that insurance is still in force, and the policy has not been surrendered and cancelled, the owner can reinstate within three years of the default. Reinstatement requires evidence of insurability satisfactory to the insurer, back premiums with interest of no more than 6% a year, and repayment or reinstatement of any policy loan (§ 38.2-3311).
The 15-day decision and other claim deadlines
The State Corporation Commission’s Rules Governing Unfair Claim Settlement Practices (14VAC5-400) apply to life insurers. A beneficiary is a “first party claimant” under the rules, and “proof of loss” means all the documentation the insurer reasonably requires to decide the claim (14VAC5-400-20). The key time limits:
- Acknowledge within 15 calendar days of notice of the claim, unless the insurer pays within that time. Sending claim forms, instructions and reasonable help within 15 days counts as acknowledgment. Telling the insurer’s agent counts as telling the insurer (14VAC5-400-50(A), (D)).
- Decide within 15 calendar days after receiving a properly executed proof of loss. If the insurer needs more time, it must tell the beneficiary within those 15 days and give its reasons (14VAC5-400-60(A)).
- Written status every 45 days. If the investigation is not done, the insurer must send written reasons within 45 calendar days of the notice of claim and every 45 days after that (14VAC5-400-60(B)).
- Deny in writing, with reasons. A denial must be in writing, with a reasonable explanation that refers to the specific policy provision, condition or exclusion relied on (14VAC5-400-70(A), (B)).
- No overbroad releases. An insurer may not ask a first-party claimant for a release broader than the claim, or label a payment “final” unless the policy limit was paid or a compromise was agreed (14VAC5-400-40(E)).
The rules also require the insurer to keep a claim file detailed enough to reconstruct everything it did, with each document dated (14VAC5-400-30), which becomes important if the claim is later disputed. The underlying statute, § 38.2-510, lists unfair practices such as refusing arbitrarily and unreasonably to pay, failing to affirm or deny within a reasonable time after proof of loss, and failing to explain a denial. That statute reaches conduct done often enough to be a general business practice.
Interest from the date of death
Section 38.2-3115 has two tracks:
- Paid without a lawsuit: interest on the amount paid runs from the date of death to the date of payment, computed daily at 2.5% a year or the rate the insurer currently pays on proceeds left with it under its interest settlement option, whichever is greater. It is added to the amount due. No interest is owed if the total would be under $5 (§ 38.2-3115(B), (C)).
- Paid after a judgment: interest at Virginia’s legal rate runs from the date proof of death was presented to the insurer until judgment (§ 38.2-3115(A)).
Certain creditor-paid credit life coverage and policies issued before July 1, 1977 are excluded (§ 38.2-3115(D)).
Group life and conversion
A Virginia group life policy must state any conditions under which the insurer can require evidence of individual insurability (§ 38.2-3328), which matters when an employer took premiums for supplemental coverage the insurer later says was never approved. When coverage ends with employment, the employee can convert to an individual policy without evidence of insurability by applying and paying the first premium within 31 days (§ 38.2-3332). If the person dies within that 31-day window, the amount they could have converted is payable under the group policy even if no application was made (§ 38.2-3334). Employer plans are usually also governed by federal ERISA rules; see employer group life.
Attorney fees when the insurer acts in bad faith
Section 38.2-209 lets a court award costs and reasonable attorney fees when an insured individual sues an insurer over coverage or the amount owed, but only if the court finds the insurer, “not acting in good faith,” denied coverage or failed or refused to pay. The statute does not create a new right to sue for someone who would otherwise lack standing (§ 38.2-209(B)). In A & E Supply Co. v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 798 F.2d 669 (4th Cir. 1986), a fire-loss case, the federal appeals court concluded that Virginia law would not recognize a tort of bad-faith refusal to honor a first-party insurance obligation, or an implied private right of action under Virginia’s unfair insurance practices statute, and it reversed a punitive damages award. That is a federal prediction of Virginia law, not a Supreme Court of Virginia ruling.
Deadline to sue
Virginia gives five years to sue on a written contract signed by the party to be charged, and three years for an unsigned or unwritten one (Va. Code § 8.01-246(A)(2), (4)).
When the beneficiary caused the death
Virginia’s slayer statute covers anyone convicted of murder or voluntary manslaughter of the insured, or found by a court to have committed one of those offenses by a preponderance of the evidence even without a conviction (Va. Code § 64.2-2500). The slayer, and anyone claiming through the slayer, receives nothing (§ 64.2-2501). Under § 64.2-2508:
- Proceeds payable to the slayer go to the estate of the person killed, unless the policy names an alternate beneficiary.
- If the slayer procured and kept up the policy as part of the plan to kill the insured, and the death came within two years of issue, the insurer has no liability on the policy.
- An insurer that pays under the policy terms without notice of the facts faces no added liability, so the family should give written notice promptly.
The chapter is to be read broadly so no one profits from a killing. If federal law preempts it for a particular payment, as can happen under an employer plan, a person who received that payment without giving value must return it to whoever would have taken it under Virginia law (§ 64.2-2511).
Divorce and death benefits: 20-111.1
Virginia revokes, on a decree of annulment or divorce from the bond of matrimony entered on or after July 1, 1993, any revocable beneficiary designation in a written contract owned by one party that pays a death benefit to the other, except as federal or other Virginia law provides (Va. Code 20-111.1). “Death benefit” expressly includes payments under a life insurance contract. The benefit is paid as if the former spouse died first. The rule does not apply where the decree or a written agreement provides a contrary result for specific benefits, or to death benefits payable to or under a trust.
The insurer is discharged by paying under the contract unless it received written notice of the revocation before paying. If federal law preempts the section for a given benefit, a former spouse who received it not for value is personally liable to the person who would otherwise have been entitled. Divorce decrees entered on or after July 1, 2012, must carry a bold notice warning that beneficiary designations may or may not be revoked automatically.
Example
A Virginia insured dies on August 3, 2026. The beneficiary tells the insurer’s agent on August 10, and the insurer receives the completed claim form and certified death certificate on August 24. The insurer should have acknowledged the claim by August 25, 15 days after the agent was told. It must accept or deny by September 8, 15 days after it had the proof of loss, or tell the beneficiary why it needs more time. If the investigation runs on, written updates are due within 45 days of the August 10 notice, about September 24, and every 45 days after. If the claim is paid in October without a lawsuit, interest runs from August 3.
Making a complaint
The State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance takes life insurance complaints through its online portal, or by mail or fax on its Life and Health complaint form: File a complaint. A complaint does not pause any deadline to sue.
Sources
- Code of Virginia §§ 8.01-246; 38.2-209, -232, -309, -510, -3115, -3303, -3304, -3305, -3311, -3326, -3328, -3332, -3334; 64.2-2500, -2501, -2508 to -2511 (official text, Virginia General Assembly): law.lis.virginia.gov.
- 14VAC5-400-20 to -70, Rules Governing Unfair Claim Settlement Practices (official text): law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode.
- A & E Supply Co. v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 798 F.2d 669 (4th Cir. 1986) (full opinion, CourtListener): courtlistener.com. Read November 3, 2026.
- Code of Virginia 20-111.1 (Virginia Law Portal): law.lis.virginia.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.