Married Women’s Property (MWP) Act in Term Insurance

The Married Women's Property Act or MWP Act was first passed in 1874 and has undergone a number of amendments to expand its scope through the years. In its current form the act is designed to provide dependent married women with complete ownership of wages, property, savings, investments and earnings of their husbands. The main purpose of the MWP Act is to ensure the financial protection of women such as wives, mothers, daughters or sisters who are partially or wholly dependent on the earning male members of the family.

The 1923 amendment of the Act expanded the original scope of legal protection to include death and maturity benefits of life insurance policies in India. There are 2 separate sections of the Married Women's Protection Act that have significance with respect to life insurance policies in India ; Section 5 and Section 6.

Section 5 of the MWP Act features a provision that allows a married woman to purchase life insurance by herself. This means that a policy purchased under Section 5 of the MWPA ensures that the married woman and her nominees will have sole authority over any and all benefits provided under the policy. Currently this provision can be availed only by married Christian women.

Additionally, Section 6 of the MWP Act makes it legally binding that death or maturity benefits of a life insurance policy bought by a married man (including widower or divorcee) with the MWP addendum are the sole property of the nominated beneficiaries such as spouse, dependent children, etc.

Furthermore, the payout is treated separate from the estate of the policyholder. So the payout of life insurance policies including term plans covered under the Married Women's Property Act cannot be attached by creditors to repay outstanding debts or loans in the event of the policyholder's untimely demise. This legal protection is designed to minimize the financial or legal hardship that various financial dependents of the policyholder including homemakers with no alternate source of income might face after their husband's death.

Below are the key benefits that married women and/or dependent children receive from a policy purchased with the MWPA addendum:

In order to receive the benefits under MWPA, the life insurance policy applicant needs to fill out a form known as the MWPA addendum along with the life insurance policy documentation to ensure that dependents such as their spouse and children get the legal protection provided by the Married Women's Property Act. Currently 2 different variants of the addendum are used by life insurance companies in India ; one for male proposer and the other for female proposer.

The MWPA addendum form for male proposer looks like this:

A life insurance policy secured by the Married Women’s Property Act, 1874 can be purchased by any married man or woman in India including widower and/or divorcee. Some common types of applicants who should consider purchasing MWPA life policies in India include:

The MWP Act also specifies individuals who are allowed to be beneficiaries of an eligible life insurance policy. Potential beneficiaries of these policies include:

The key goal of the MWP Act in life insurance plans is focused on minimizing the financial hardship of family members like dependent wife and children in the case of the unexpected demise of the family’s earning member. But the actual scope of the act is much wider and helps legally enforce many other financial rights of women in India.