Question

Death benefit proceeds from a life insurance policy are included in a decedent's gross estate in which of the following circumstances:
The decedent gave the policy to his father four years ago, but retained the right to change the name of the beneficiary.
The policy beneficiary is a grantor trust of the decedent but the policy is owned by a closely-held corporation.
The decedent gave the policy to a charity seven years ago.
The decedent transferred the policy to an irrevocable life insurance trust five years ago with no retained incidents of ownership.

A. 2 and 3.
B. 1 and 2.
C. 3 and 4.
D. 1 and 4.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. 1 and 2.

Explanation:

Life insurance policy can be defined as a contract between a policyholder and an insurer, in which the insurer agrees to pay an amount of money to a specific beneficiary either upon the death of the insured person (decedent) or after a set period of time.

A decedent refers to a deceased person who is no longer able to control his or her properties (wealth).

Generally, insurance companies across the globe charge millions of their customers (insured) premiums every year. This gives them the privilege of having a pool of cash which can be used to cover the cost of losses and destruction to the asset of a small fraction or percentage of its customers.

This simply means that, since insurance companies collect premium from all of their customers for losses which may or may not occur, so they can easily use this cash to compensate or indemnify for losses incurred by those having high risk.

Death benefit proceeds from a life insurance policy are included in a decedent's gross estate in the following circumstances:

I. The decedent gave the policy to his father four years ago, but retained the right to change the name of the beneficiary.

II. The policy beneficiary is a grantor trust of the decedent but the policy is owned by a closely-held corporation.