Most life insurance policies contain what is known as an incontestability period. This period is usually two years from the date the policy is issued. During that window, the insurance company has the legal right to closely examine the policyholder’s application if a death claim is filed.
If the insured dies within those first two years, the insurer will almost always conduct a detailed investigation. That investigation is not limited to the cause of death. Instead, the insurer looks backward at the application and searches for any statements it believes were inaccurate or incomplete. If it claims the insured made a material misrepresentation, it may attempt to rescind the policy and deny the death benefit.
One of the most common issues insurers focus on during contestability is smoking.
Why Smoking Becomes a Target During Contestability
Life insurance companies charge significantly higher premiums to smokers. Because of that pricing difference, smoking status is considered material to underwriting. If the insurer can show that the insured misrepresented smoking habits on the application, it will often argue that the policy should never have been issued at the original rate.
When a death occurs during the contestability period, insurers frequently obtain medical records, pharmacy records, hospital charts, and sometimes toxicology results. Any reference to nicotine use, tobacco history, vaping, or smoking cessation can trigger a denial.
In many cases, the insured did not intentionally lie. Sometimes the application question was vague. Other times the insured believed they qualified as a non-smoker because they had quit months earlier. Insurers rarely give beneficiaries the benefit of the doubt.
Lying About Smoking Versus Smoking After the Policy Is Issued
There is an important legal distinction that insurers often blur.
If the insured lied about smoking on the application, the insurer may have grounds to contest the policy during the first two years. Even then, the insurer still must prove that the misrepresentation was material and that it relied on that information when issuing the policy.
Smoking after the policy is issued is a different issue.
Most individual life insurance policies do not require the insured to update the insurer if they later start smoking. Many policies are priced based on the applicant’s status at the time of application, not future lifestyle changes. Despite that, insurers often try to deny claims by arguing that post-issue smoking somehow invalidates coverage.
That argument does not automatically hold up. Whether it works depends entirely on the policy language, the application questions, and state law. This is one area where insurers frequently overreach.
What Insurers Actually Try to Prove
In smoking-related denials, insurers typically argue one of the following:
The insured was smoking at the time of application and denied it
The insured minimized or mischaracterized prior tobacco use
Medical records contradict application answers
The insured failed nicotine testing tied to underwriting
What matters legally is not whether nicotine appears somewhere in a medical chart. What matters is whether the insurer can prove the insured’s answers were false at the time they were given and that those answers affected the underwriting decision.
We recently resolved a $500,000 AIG life insurance claim that was denied based on alleged smoking misrepresentation. Once the full underwriting file and medical context were examined, the insurer’s position fell apart.
What Happens After the Contestability Period Ends
Once the contestability period expires, the insurer’s power to deny claims based on application statements becomes extremely limited. Even clear misstatements often cannot be used to rescind the policy after two years, except in very narrow fraud cases.
If the insured dies after the contestability period, smoking issues are far less likely to justify a denial. That is why insurers aggressively investigate early deaths and often delay claims while searching for smoking-related evidence.
What to Do If a Claim Is Denied Due to Smoking
If you receive a denial letter citing smoking, misrepresentation, or contestability, do not assume the insurer is correct. These denials are frequently challengeable.
A proper review should include:
The exact application questions and answers
Underwriting guidelines used by the insurer
Medical records in context, not isolated notes
Timing of any alleged smoking activity
Whether the insurer met its legal burden
Insurance companies count on beneficiaries not knowing how contestability works. Once legal pressure is applied, many of these denials reverse.
Why Legal Review Matters in Smoking-Based Denials
Smoking denials are rarely as clear as insurers claim. Words like smoker, non-smoker, tobacco use, or nicotine are often poorly defined in applications. Courts routinely reject denials where insurers stretch those terms beyond their plain meaning.
Our firm focuses exclusively on denied life insurance claims. We know how insurers investigate smoking issues, how they frame denial letters, and where those arguments break down. Whether the insurer alleges application misrepresentation or post-policy smoking, the claim deserves careful legal scrutiny.
If your life insurance claim was denied during the contestability period and smoking is cited as the reason, it is worth having the denial reviewed before walking away from the benefit your loved one intended you to receive.