Not legal advice. This page summarizes Wisconsin statutes and insurance rules in our own words, working from the texts the Wisconsin Legislature publishes online.
What is different in Wisconsin
Wisconsin uses one prompt-payment statute for many kinds of insurance, including life. Once a claim is overdue, it carries 7.5% simple interest a year. The state also has a detailed rule on when an application misstatement can undo a policy, which requires the insurer to act within a set time after it learns the facts, and it voids any policy clause that shortens the time to sue.
Contest period
Apart from nonpayment of premium and the misstated age or sex rule, an individual life policy cannot be contested once it has been in force for two years from issue during the insured’s lifetime (Wis. Stat. 632.46(1)). For group life, the policy itself becomes incontestable after two years, and a person’s coverage cannot be contested based on their statements about insurability after it has been in force on them for two years during their lifetime. Such a statement can be used only if it is in a written document the insured signed (632.46(2)). Disability coverage and extra accident benefits may be contested at any time for fraudulent misrepresentation (632.46(4)).
Suicide clause
We did not find a Wisconsin statute that sets a maximum period for a life policy’s suicide exclusion.
Application misstatements
Under Wis. Stat. 631.11, a statement made by the applicant (rather than the insurer or its agent) while the policy was being negotiated affects coverage only if it appears in the policy, in a signed written application attached to or endorsed on the policy, or in a written communication the insurer sent the insured within 60 days after the policy took effect (631.11(1)(a)).
Even then, a misrepresentation is grounds to rescind or deny only if the person knew or should have known it was false and either:
- the insurer relied on it and it was material or made with intent to deceive; or
- the misstated fact contributed to the loss (631.11(1)(b)).
Other limits apply too:
- What the insurer already knew. The insurer cannot rely on a misstatement if, when it issued the policy, it actually knew the true facts or is treated as knowing them (631.11(4)(a)).
- Deadline after it learns. Once the insurer learns facts that would justify rescission, it must tell the insured within 60 days that it plans to rescind or to defend against a claim, or within 120 days if it needs more medical information. If it does not, it loses that defense (631.11(4)(b)).
- Copy of the application. The policyholder, or a person insured under the policy, may ask in writing for a copy of the application. If the insurer does not send it within 15 working days, the application cannot be used against that person (631.11(4m)(a)).
- Group certificates. A certificate holder’s statement counts only if it appears in the certificate or in a signed document whose copy went to the certificate holder or to the beneficiary it would affect (631.11(4m)(b)).
These rules are subject to the incontestability statute (631.11(6)). If the insured’s age or sex was misstated, the payout is adjusted to the coverage the premium actually paid would have purchased for the true age or sex. If the insured was over the insurer’s maximum age, at least the premiums must be refunded (632.46(3)).
Grace period and lapse
An individual life policy must give a grace period of at least 31 days for every premium after the first, and the death benefit stays in force during it (Wis. Stat. 632.44(2)). A group life policy must give the policyholder the same 31-day minimum, unless the policyholder gives advance written notice that it is discontinuing the policy (632.56(5)).
Interest on death benefits
Wisconsin’s timely payment statute requires insurers to pay every claim promptly (Wis. Stat. 628.46(1)).
- When a claim is overdue. It becomes overdue if unpaid 30 days after the insurer receives written notice of the covered loss and its amount. Notice that supports only part of the claim makes that part overdue 30 days later.
- The proof-of-loss floor. No claim is overdue until 30 days after the insurer receives the proof of loss the policy requires, or equivalent evidence (628.46(2)).
- Rate. Overdue payments bear simple interest at 7.5% a year (628.46(1)).
- When a payment is made. Payment counts as made on the day a properly addressed, postpaid check or draft is mailed, or otherwise on the day it is delivered.
- When the clock does not run:
- when the insurer has reasonable proof that it is not responsible for the payment (628.46(1)); or
- while no one can legally give a valid release, or the insurer cannot tell who is entitled to the money. This exception applies only if the insurer promptly told the claimant so and offered in good faith to pay promptly once that is decided (628.46(2)).
The statute applies to the classes of claims listed in the security fund law, Wis. Stat. 646.31(2), which include defined claims by beneficiaries under life policies (628.46(3)).
Claim handling
The Commissioner’s rule on claim settlement practices covers life insurance (Wis. Admin. Code Ins 6.11(2) and Ins 6.75(1)). If done without just cause and often enough to show a general business practice, the following are unfair practices:
- not promptly acknowledging claim communications;
- not starting and finishing an investigation with reasonable speed;
- not promptly giving claim forms, instructions and reasonable help;
- not trying in good faith to settle once liability is reasonably clear;
- not promptly explaining, on request, the policy or legal basis for a denial or a compromise offer;
- not confirming or denying coverage within a reasonable time after proof of loss is complete (Ins 6.11(3)(a)).
Unless a statute or rule sets a different period, “prompt” means action within 10 consecutive days of receiving a claim communication (Ins 6.11(4)). Knowingly misrepresenting facts or policy terms to a claimant is an unfair practice even once (Ins 6.11(3)(b)1.). Violations are enforced by the Commissioner (Ins 6.11(5)).
Bad faith
Wisconsin’s statutes do not set out a separate damages action for a life insurer’s bad-faith claim handling; the claim comes from case law. In Anderson v. Continental Insurance Co., 85 Wis. 2d 675 (1978), a property insurance case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court explicitly held that an insured may sue its own insurer in tort for bad faith. The insured must show that the insurer had no reasonable basis for denying benefits, judged by what a reasonable insurer would have done, and that the insurer knew or recklessly disregarded that lack of a reasonable basis. A claim that is fairly debatable on the facts or the law does not support the tort, though whether a claim was fairly debatable also depends on whether the insurer properly investigated it. Anderson involved a homeowner’s own policy; how it applies to a life beneficiary, and whether punitive damages are available, are questions for a Wisconsin lawyer.
Group life insurance
- A group life policy must name a facility of payment rule. The death benefit goes to the beneficiary the insured named. The insurer may reserve the right to pay up to $1,000 to someone who paid funeral or last-illness expenses (Wis. Stat. 632.56(3)). Misstated age leads to an equitable adjustment (632.56(2)).
- When coverage ends because employment or membership ends, the person has a right to convert to an individual policy with no health questions. They must apply in writing and pay the first premium within 31 days (632.57(2)). A similar right applies to people covered for at least five years when the group policy itself ends (632.57(4)).
- If the person dies during the conversion period before an individual policy takes effect, the amount they could have converted is payable as a claim under the group policy. This is true whether or not they applied or paid (632.57(5)).
If the coverage came through a private-sector job, federal ERISA rules usually apply on top of these; our page on employer group life explains how.
Deadline to sue
Unless chapters 600 to 646 or 655 provide otherwise, a suit on an insurance policy uses Wisconsin’s general contract statute, which allows six years after the claim accrues (Wis. Stat. 631.83(1)(d), 893.43(1)). Death claims based only on the insured’s long absence follow separate rules (631.83(1)(c)).
No insurance policy may:
- shorten the time to sue below what the statutes allow;
- dictate which court a case must be filed in; or
- bar suit altogether (631.83(3)).
There is also a short waiting period. A suit to make the insurer pay cannot be filed until 60 days after proof of loss was given or waived, or until the insurer denies full payment, whichever is earlier. That wait does not apply where the complaint shows the delay itself would cause prejudice beyond the delay (631.83(4)).
When the beneficiary caused the death
An unlawful and intentional killing of the insured revokes any beneficiary designation in the killer’s favor. The policy is then paid as if the killer had disclaimed it (Wis. Stat. 854.14(2), (3)). Special rules split the value of marital-property policies when one spouse kills the other (854.14(3m)).
- A final criminal judgment, or a final delinquency adjudication, is conclusive. Without one, the court decides on petition by a preponderance of the evidence (854.14(5)).
- The rule does not apply if the court finds the decedent’s wishes would be better served another way, or if the decedent’s will says it does not apply and refers to the statute specifically (854.14(6)).
- Insurer protection. An insurer that pays in good faith before getting written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement is not liable. It is liable for payments made after notice (854.23(2)(a)). The notice must go by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the insurer’s main office, or be served like a summons (854.23(3)).
- After notice, the insurer may deposit the money with the probate court, which discharges it. This is a court deposit that leaves the probate court to decide who is paid (854.23(4)).
Former spouses and former domestic partners: 854.15
Wisconsin’s 854.15 revokes, on a divorce or annulment or on termination of a domestic partnership, any revocable disposition the decedent made to the former spouse or former domestic partner, or to that person’s relatives, in a governing instrument executed before that event. The revoked provisions are applied as if the former spouse and the relatives had disclaimed them.
The exceptions are broader than in many states. The section does not apply if the express terms of the instrument, a court order or a property-division contract provide otherwise, if the divorce is nullified, or if the two remarried or entered a new domestic partnership before the death. And if the person who signed the instrument had a contrary intent, the conflicting provision does not apply, and extrinsic evidence may be used to show that intent (854.15(5)(bm)). ERISA may control employer plans (Egelhoff).
Worked example
A beneficiary sends a signed claim form, the death certificate and the policy’s proof of loss, and the insurer receives them on May 4, 2026. The claim becomes overdue if not paid by June 3. If the insurer sends the check on July 3 and had no reasonable proof that it was not responsible, the payment was overdue for about a month and owes 7.5% simple annual interest for that time. If two people both claim the money and the insurer promptly tells the claimants it cannot pay until that is resolved, offering in good faith to pay once it is decided, the claim may not be overdue while the dispute lasts.
Making a complaint
Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance takes complaints about insurers: Filing an Insurance Complaint (OCI). Filing with OCI does not pause the time limit for a lawsuit.
Sources
- Wisconsin Statutes 628.46, 631.11, 631.83, 632.44, 632.46, 632.56, 632.57, 646.31, 893.43, 854.14 and 854.23, from the Wisconsin Legislature: docs.legis.wisconsin.gov.
- Wisconsin Administrative Code Ins 6.11 and Ins 6.75: docs.legis.wisconsin.gov.
- Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, Filing an Insurance Complaint: oci.wi.gov.
- Anderson v. Continental Ins. Co., 85 Wis. 2d 675 (1978) (full opinion, CourtListener): courtlistener.com. Read November 3, 2026.
- Wisconsin Statutes 854.15 (Wisconsin Legislature): docs.legis.wisconsin.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.