Beneficiary

The person who receives the indemnity in the cases foreseen by the policy. They usually have a common bond of personal, family or economic interests with the insured or the policyholder.

For example, in a life insurance policy, the beneficiaries in the event of death are usually the closest relatives (spouses and children) of the insured, who is the person who has died. Nevertheless, in the conditions of the policy, any person can be designated as a beneficiary.

What rights do they have?

The essential right that the beneficiary has is to receive the indemnity calculated according to the claim and the damage caused.

What are their obligations?

To identify themselves to the insurer so that the insurer can verify the right to receive the agreed benefit.

The policyholder, the insured and the beneficiary can be one and the same person or they can be three different people. This can be seen in the following examples of life insurance:

• “A life insurance policy is taken out under which, if the individual survives to a certain date, the insurer will pay a capital sum or annuity.” In this case the three figures (insured, policyholder and beneficiary) are the same person.
• “A life insurance policy is taken out by virtue of which, if one dies before a certain date, the insurer pays the children a certain amount of money.” In this case, the policyholder and the insured are the same person, and the beneficiaries are the children.
• “A life insurance policy is taken out under which, if the spouse dies before a certain date, the children will receive a certain capital sum.” In this case, the policyholder, the insured and the beneficiary are three different persons.

In Spain, there has been a register of insurance policies involving death cover since 2005. It is a public register, held by the Ministry of Justice, which contains all the information on this type of insurance so that interested parties can find out if a person has taken out an insurance policy in the event of death, as well as the insurance company with which they have taken out the policy. It provides the beneficiaries of life insurance policies with the basic information necessary to be able to claim any benefits that may correspond to them from the insurer.