Life insurance policy and legitimate heirs: how is the benefit shared?

• Often in life insurance policies, legal heirs are designated as beneficiaries.

• However, their rights will not be divided according to the shares they are entitled to by inheritance.

• According to case law, the benefit is divided among them in equal shares

The effects of the designation, in life insurance policies, by the policyholder of the legitimate heirs as beneficiaries are much debated, especially after the judgement n. 11421 ruled in 2021 by the Italian Court of Cassation. According to the judges, it seems that the indemnity deriving from the policy in case of death must be shared following a different criterion than the division of the inheritance among legitimate heirs indicated by the law, having its origin in the policy itself entered into between living persons: in particular, the compensation would be divided among the legitimate heirs in equal parts regardless the fact that the law indicates different quotas laid down for the division of the inheritance.