2022 Wyoming Statutes
Title 26 - Insurance Code
Chapter 16 - Life Insurance and Annuity Contracts
Article 1 - Policy and Contract Provisions
Section 26-16-119 - Provisions Limiting Liability in Life Insurance Policies Prohibited; Exceptions.
26-16-119. Provisions limiting liability in life insurance policies prohibited; exceptions.
(a) No life insurance policy shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state if it contains any provision:
(i) Limiting the time within which an action at law or in equity may be commenced on the policy to less than three (3) years after the cause of action has accrued;
(ii) Which excludes or restricts liability for death caused in a certain specified manner or occurring while the insured has a specified status, except that a policy may contain provisions excluding or restricting coverage as specified therein in case of death under any of the following circumstances:
(A) Death as a result, directly or indirectly, of war, declared or undeclared, or of any act or hazard of a war or action;
(B) Death as a result of aviation or any air travel or flight;
(C) Death as a result of a specified hazardous occupation. Service in the military, naval or air forces or in civilian forces auxiliary thereto shall not be a specified hazardous occupation under this subparagraph;
(D) Death while the insured is a resident outside [the] continental United States and Canada; or
(E) Death within two (2) years from the date of issue of the policy as a result of suicide, while sane or insane.
(b) A policy which contains any exclusion or restriction pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall also provide that in case of death under the circumstances to which the exclusion or restriction applies, the insurer shall pay an amount not less than a reserve determined according to the commissioners' reserve valuation method upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rate specified in the policy for the calculation of nonforfeiture benefits, or if the policy does not provide for such benefits, computed according to a mortality table and interest rate determined by the insurer and specified in the policy, with adjustment for indebtedness or dividend credit.
(c) This section does not apply to group life insurance, disability insurance, reinsurance or annuities, or to any provision in a life insurance policy or contract supplemental thereto relating to disability benefits or to additional benefits in case of death by accident or accidental means.
(d) Nothing in this section prohibits any provision which in the commissioner's opinion is more favorable to the policyholder than a provision permitted by this section.
