Armin Hohenadler

Insurance contracts require the insured to do certain things or to meet certain conditions, both before and after a loss, which the law sometimes classifies as suspensive and subsequent conditions. If the insured does not meet these obligations or does not meet these conditions, the insurance company may be exempted from its obligation to pay the debt because of the infringement. However, in most jurisdictions, a court only grants an exemption from an insurer`s obligation to pay a fee if the offence is essential. These treaties are governed by the rule of law and should, as such, be in a legal form. Such contracts must comply with the requirements of the legal form and should also be approved by the public insurance service. Beneficiaries can be changed, as the change of beneficiary does not change the insured risk, so there are no consequences for the insurer if the policyholder changes beneficiary, but the insurer must be informed before the change has legal effect. The goal is to protect the insurance company from paying the wrong person or being forced to pay twice. In the absence of one of these essential elements of a contract, it is a void contract that is not enforced by any court. For example, most contracts signed by a minor are void contracts because they are not legal. A countervailable contract is a contract that may be cancelled by one party if the other party is in breach of the treaty or because essential information contained in the contract was omitted or false. Instead, the party entitled to nullity may choose to enforce it. For example, insurance companies can often cancel a contract because the applicant provided false information about the application. Therefore, if someone has had a car accident and that person had previously completed the insurance application in which they stated that they did not have speeding tickets when they did, the insurance company can cancel the contract and not pay the fee.

Although most contracts can be oral, most are written due to their complexity, especially insurance contracts. In life insurance, the agent never has the power to retain the company. The applicant completes the application and pays the first premium. The applicant then receives a conditional premium receipt – the most common type of receipt is the insurance premium receipt. If the applicant is insured in accordance with the company`s underwriting standards, life insurance takes effect from the date of the application or, in some cases, from the date of the medical examination. In 1941, the insurance industry began, Moving to the current system, in which the risks covered are first broadly defined in an „All Risk“[16] or „All Sums“[17] insurance agreement relating to a general form of insurance (for example.B. „We pay all amounts that the insured is legally required to pay in damages…), then will be circumscribed by subsequent exclusion clauses (for example.B. „This insurance does not apply to… »). [18] If the insured wishes to cover a risk taken by exclusion on the standard form, the insured may sometimes pay an additional premium for a confirmation of the policy that suspends the exclusion. While the insurance applicant is generally considered to be the one making the offer, the insurance company dictates the terms of the contract. The insurance applicant must accept the contract of adhesion, or not at all.

Due to different definitions and legal decisions made available by different courts in the past and the requirements imposed by the governments of the Länder and their authorities, an insurance contract must be carefully drafted in order to be legally valid and to provide coverage as intended. That`s why the insurance contracts offered to the public are standardized…