other stimuli leading to the dispersion of family assets and being declared by the Court to have limited civil capacity, then the civil transactions of these people must be established and performed by their legal representatives. Thus, people aged 18 years or older who do not fall into either of the two cases mentioned above are capable of establishing and exercising civil rights and obligations by their own actions.
The laws of some countries allow minors of a certain age to purchase insurance, but with the consent of their parents or legal guardians, if they can demonstrate that they have the financial means to do so [2].
The 1995 and 2005 Civil Codes of Vietnam also provide for a number of transactions that participants who do not yet have full civil capacity can also establish and perform. Article 20 of the 2005 Civil Code stipulates (1) Persons from six years of age to under eighteen years of age must have the consent of their legal representative when establishing and performing civil transactions, except for transactions to serve daily living needs appropriate to their age or otherwise provided by law. (2) In cases where a person from fifteen years of age to under eighteen years of age has private property to secure the performance of obligations, he/she may establish and perform civil transactions by himself/herself without the consent of his/her legal representative, except in cases where the law provides otherwise. Thus, since there are currently no other regulations in the 2000 and 2010 LKDBH, it can be understood that Vietnamese law allows people aged 15 to under 18 to participate in life insurance contracts without the consent of a legal representative if that person has personal assets to ensure the performance of obligations arising from the life insurance contract.
+ As mentioned in section 1.3.1 "Principles of concluding life insurance contracts", the condition that the Insured must have insurable interests with the Insured has become a principle in insurance activities worldwide. If this principle is satisfied, the life insurance contract as well as the insurance contract in general will satisfy one of the four general principles, which is the principle that the contract must have a legitimate purpose.
According to Clause 9, Article 3 and Clause 2, Article 31 of the 2000 Law on Insurance, the insurable interests between the Insurer and the Insured in a human insurance contract can only be the right to nurture, support and the right to claim debt (property rights). The provisions on insurable interests in human insurance in the above articles are not really suitable to the actual situation, the laws of other countries and international practices. In reality, the human insurance products being deployed by insurance companies in Vietnam are very diverse, including human insurance products in which the insured are organizations (state agencies, enterprises, political organizations, social organizations...) and the insured are employees or members of that organization or the insured are banks and the insured are depositors... Compared with the current regulations of the 2000 and 2010 Law on Insurance, the insured and the insured in these insurance products clearly do not have insurable interests.
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Basic Types of Life Insurance
During the life insurance contract conclusion stage, the Insurer is the entity that proposes to conclude the contract by declaring and submitting the insurance application. The Insurer must study the contract terms and decide on the life insurance contract conditions. Right from this stage, the Insurer has the obligation to notify the correct age, honestly declare personal and health information of itself and the Insured, and pay the estimated insurance premium.
- Subjects involved in life insurance contracts
In addition to the two main entities that have the role of implementing the contract, the life insurance contract also includes the Insured and the Beneficiary - entities that do not directly sign the contract but are specifically designated by the Insurer in the life insurance contract and have certain rights and obligations arising from participating in the contract.
+ Insured: is an individual whose life expectancy is the subject of insurance in a life insurance contract. The Insured can be the Insured or the Beneficiary at the same time. As mentioned above, if the Insured is not the Insured, he/she must have insurable interests with the Insured.
Clause 2, Article 38 of the 2000 Law on Insurance stipulates that it is not allowed to enter into a personal insurance contract in case of death of the following persons: a) Persons under 18 years old
age, except in cases where the parent or guardian of that person agrees in writing; b) People with mental illness. In addition, the laws of countries around the world as well as Vietnam do not have regulations on the age limit of the insured to participate in insurance. However, to ensure efficiency in business operations and achieve the purpose of the product, insurance companies often have regulations on the minimum and/or maximum age of the insured for each product. For example, the An Gia Tai Loc product (NA14, NA15, NA16) of the General Insurance Corporation stipulates that the insured must be from 1 to 60 years old at the time the contract comes into effect but not over 70 years old when the insurance term of the contract ends; the An Sinh Giao Duc product (NA9) of the General Insurance Corporation stipulates that the insured must be a child from 1 to 13 years old at the time the contract comes into effect.
In addition to the age of the insured, the gender of the insured is also one of the factors affecting the insurance premium. Insurance companies often use mortality tables as the first step in determining the insurance premium rate. The mortality tables used by insurance companies show that, under normal circumstances, women live longer than men. Most insurance companies set the insurance premium rate for women at a lower rate than for men of the same age.
In case the BMBH purchases insurance for the death of another person other than himself, Clause 1, Article 38 of the 2000 Law on Insurance Business stipulates that the written consent of the insured person must be obtained, clearly stating the insurance amount and the beneficiary. This provision aims to ensure unity of will among the insurance participants, and to limit insurance profiteering when the BMBH "trades" in the life and health of others without their consent.
During the contract signing stage, the Insured is also obliged to honestly declare his/her personal information and health status; sign the Insurance Application Form (if the Insured is an adult), and undergo a health check before deciding to accept insurance if requested by the Insurance Company.
+ Beneficiary:
According to Clause 8, Article 3 of the 2000 Law on Insurance, “ the beneficiary is an organization or individual designated by the insurer to receive insurance money under a personal insurance contract ”. According to Clause 1, Article 38 of the 2000 Law on Insurance, “ any change of beneficiary must have the written consent of the insurer ”. Thus, according to Vietnamese law, the concept of beneficiary only exists in the type of personal insurance and must be designated by the insurer (if the insurer purchases insurance for itself) or by both the insurer and the insured (if the insurer participates in insurance for the death of another insured). Vietnamese law does not have any provisions on the need for the beneficiary to have insurable interests with the insured.
However, the Life Insurance Management Institute of the United States (LOMA) as well as some countries in the world have a stricter view on beneficiaries. To understand this issue clearly, we can divide it into two cases: (i) individuals buying insurance for their own lives and (ii) individuals buying insurance for the lives of others [38].
In the first case, US law allows the insurer to designate any person as the beneficiary. However, the risk assessment rules of most US insurers stipulate that the beneficiary must have an insurable interest with the insured when the contract is issued. Also according to this view, the designated beneficiary (who has an insurable interest with the insured at the time of entering into the contract and has not designated another beneficiary) will not be required to prove this relationship if there is a change in the relationship at the time of requesting settlement of insurance benefits. For example, Mr. Nguyen Van A purchased life insurance for himself and designated his wife - Ms. Nguyen Thi B as the beneficiary. A few years later, Mr. A divorced his wife but did not change the content of the beneficiary designation under the said life insurance contract. After Mr. A died, Ms. B requested settlement of insurance benefits. Since the insurable interests between Mr. A and Ms. B are satisfied at the time of the insurance claim and the said insurance contract is in effect, Ms. B does not need to satisfy the requirement of insurable interests with Mr. A after his death. There is an exception in the state of California - USA, this state law prohibits insurers from refusing to issue contracts for the sole reason of
because the designated beneficiary has no insurable interests with BMBH and is also the Insured.
In the second case, the laws of many countries and most US states only require that the insurer have an insurable interest in the life of the insured when considering accepting insurance. However, the laws of some US states and most US insurance companies' risk assessment rules stipulate that both the insurer and the beneficiary must have an insurable relationship with the insured.
According to some insurance product terms being implemented in Vietnam (for example, An Gia Thinh Vuong terms with product codes BV-NA10 to BV-NA13 of Bao Viet Life Corporation), the insurance company has stricter regulations on this subject, specifically as follows: " The person entitled to insurance benefits (Beneficiary) is designated by the Insured with the consent of the Insured". It is thought that this is not only a regulation to ensure the rights of the Insured but also necessary to avoid insurance fraud.
The terms of life insurance products of all insurance companies include provisions that the insurer has the right to designate, change, or designate another beneficiary when the beneficiary dies before the insured with the consent of the insured or the insured's representative at the time of insurance application or at any time the contract is in effect. The above designation or change must be sent to the insurance company in writing and will take effect after being approved or confirmed in writing by the insurance company. Insurance companies are usually not responsible for the legality or disputes arising (if any) related to the designation or change of the beneficiary.
The content of the beneficiary designation in the life insurance contract also has significance for the settlement of insurance benefits of the insurer. Normally, the insurers do not have regulations requiring the insurer and/or the insured to designate a beneficiary when participating in the life insurance contract. In case there is no beneficiary, the insurers default that the death benefit will be paid to the legal heir(s) of the insured. In fact, some Vietnamese insurers
are having difficulty identifying the legal heirs of the insured to pay insurance benefits. According to Clause 2 of the Notarization Law, “In case the inheritance is the right to use land or property that the law requires registration of ownership, the person requesting notarization must present documents to prove the right to use land and property ownership of the person leaving the inheritance. In case of inheritance according to the law, the person requesting notarization must also present documents proving the relationship between the person leaving the inheritance and the beneficiary of the inheritance according to the provisions of the law on inheritance. In case of inheritance according to a will, the person requesting notarization must also present the will”. According to Clause 3, Article 49 of the Notarization Law, “the notary must check to determine that the person leaving the inheritance is the person with the right to use land and property ownership and that the people requesting notarization are the beneficiaries of the inheritance; If it is unclear or there is reason to believe that the leaving of the inheritance and the inheritance are not in accordance with the law, the notary shall refuse the notarization request or, at the request of the person requesting the notarization, the notary shall conduct verification. The difficulty and complexity of this procedure affects the compensation payment activities of life insurance companies. Therefore, it is thought that legislators should have regulations and administrative procedures related to the presentation of documents proving the relationship between the testator and the beneficiary in cases of inheritance according to the law so that in case the person declaring the inheritance cannot present complete household registration documents to prove the relationship as mentioned above, these people can make their own commitments and take responsibility for their statements about the co-heirs and co-beneficiaries of the inheritance before the law. While the notarization law has not been amended, insurance companies have also included provisions in the new product terms to facilitate compensation settlement. For example, the An Phat Hung Gia product terms of Bao Viet Life Corporation stipulate that “In case there is no Beneficiary, the death insurance benefit shall be paid to the legal heirs of the Insured. If there are two or more legal heirs, those legal heirs must appoint a representative with full civil act capacity to carry out the necessary transactions with Bao Viet.
Life. Bao Viet Life only pays insurance benefits through the representatives of these legal heirs and is not responsible for any disputes (if any) arising in the division of insurance benefits".
The beneficiary has no role in the stage of concluding the life insurance contract, but only has rights and obligations when the contract comes into effect and the insured event occurs. At that time, the beneficiary will have to perform actions to receive insurance benefits such as submitting a request for settlement of insurance benefits, proving that the risk event is within the scope of insurance, etc.
+ Insurance agents, insurance brokers and specialized staff in group insurance exploitation
Insurance agents, insurance brokers and group insurance specialists are entities that introduce, offer insurance, arrange the conclusion of insurance contracts and perform other tasks to implement insurance contracts under the authorization of insurance companies. The conclusion of life insurance contracts is special, partly due to the role and activities of this intermediary team. The author will discuss in more detail the impact of insurance agents, insurance brokers and group insurance specialists in the next section on the process of concluding life insurance contracts.
2.1.3. Life insurance contract conclusion process
Basically, the process of negotiating and establishing an agreement in general, including the conclusion of a life insurance contract in particular, is essentially the declaration of will and acceptance of will of the participating parties. In a contractual relationship, the declaration of will is called the proposal to conclude a contract and the acceptance of will is called the establishment of a contractual relationship. The process of concluding a life insurance contract as described below also includes the two most important stages: (i) the insurer's request for insurance - the proposal to conclude an insurance contract and (ii) the insurer's acceptance of insurance - the establishment of a contractual relationship.
- Product promotion and customer contact (pre-contract stage)
This is the stage where the parties conduct contact activities to enter into a life insurance contract. For insurance companies, this is the stage of learning about insurance products to decide whether to propose to enter into a contract or not. For insurance companies, this is an important stage because the main purpose is to convince customers to enter into a contract through many different activities, including important tasks such as advertising the business, advertising products and contacting customers. In the pre-contractual stage, there are not many legal factors binding the parties, which is the reason why many disputes arise when signing and implementing contracts. Some problems that arise during this period affect the quality of life insurance contracts such as (i) product and business promotion is still negative, only mentioning the advantages, not mentioning the responsibilities, limitations (if any, the description of insurance is not complete, only mentioning the benefits without clearly stating the details such as the obligation to declare honestly, the surrender value, the obligation to pay premiums; insurance agents and insurance operators speak ill of other insurance companies; (ii) the process of contacting customers by insurance agents can affect the freedom of will of customers when entering into contracts, out of respect for the familiar relationship with the agent, the contract is concluded, the insurance agent continuously contacts for a long time, leading to customers being forced to buy insurance, customers are not provided with the full text of the contract when preparing to enter into contracts, only when the customer accepts to enter into contracts, completes the declaration procedures and is accepted by the insurance company, will the customer be provided with the full contract. Life insurance includes a standard clause. Although in reality, insurance companies all set aside a reasonable period of time (from 14 to 21 days from the effective date of the contract) for customers to consider canceling if they do not want to continue participating in the insurance, the disadvantage of course belongs to the customer (such as having to bear reasonable costs related to the contract such as medical examination costs, risk assessment, etc.)
- Insurance requirements:
This is the stage carried out by the Insurer or/and the Insured. As mentioned above, the insurance request of the Insurer is essentially a proposal to enter into a life insurance contract. The reason why the Insurer is the one who proposes to enter into a life insurance contract is because although