Taking out life insurance policies on people you expect to die
<p>Is it legal to do this? Can't I just take out policies on people I know with underrated or misclassified health problems and make money?</p>

<p>In the UK you must have an "insurable interest" in the thing you want to insure. This means you would suffer a financial or other kind of loss if the thing were lost or damaged. You can't take out insurance on things in which you don't have an insurable interest - or the policy would be invalid if you did.</p>

<p>So you can get life insurance for your spouse and home insurance for your home, but not life insurance for your neighbour's spouse or home insurance for their home.</p>

<p>(In the UK the person to be insured could assign their policy to or place it in trust with named beneficiaries.)</p>

<p>Also you must declare pre-existing conditions on application for life insurance, else the policy does not cover them or is invalidated - either way you have wasted your money.</p>

criminal-law