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When Your Spouse in Taiwan Insures Your Life: Written Consent, Beneficiaries and Withdrawing Consent

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NT$30 million. That is the combined cover of the two largest travel insurance policies a Taiwanese husband had taken out on his wife, according to investigators' findings reported by CNA on October 27: one for NT$10 million, one for NT$20 million. She was stabbed to death in a hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, on October 19, and Japanese police arrested another Taiwanese woman. Prosecutors in Tainan say their initial finding is that the husband is strongly suspected of offences including joint homicide and attempted fraud, and the Tainan District Court ordered him detained and held incommunicado. He denies the allegations, according to a TVBS timeline. Detention is not a verdict. He is presumed innocent; as reported, the case is still under investigation.

Behind the case sits a rule that applies to every family in Taiwan: a death policy on someone else's life needs that person's written consent and an agreed sum insured.

The consent rule in Article 105

Article 105(1) of the Insurance Act is one sentence. A death insurance contract made by a third party is void unless the insured person consented in writing and the sum insured was agreed.

Written consent means your own signature. When the law requires writing, the text may be written by someone else, but the person must sign personally; a seal counts as a signature, and a fingerprint, cross or other mark counts only if two people sign the document as witnesses (Civil Code, Article 3).

Who may take out a policy on your life

First comes the policyholder's insurable interest. Article 16 lists four groups: the policyholder or members of the policyholder's household (家屬), people the policyholder relies on for living or education expenses, debtors, and people who manage the policyholder's property or interests. A spouse who lives with you can fall within the household category, since the Civil Code treats everyone in a household formed for permanent common living as a household member, apart from its head (Civil Code Articles 1122 and 1123). Without an insurable interest the contract loses effect (Insurance Act, Article 17).

Insurers also run their own checks. Speaking at the Financial Supervisory Commission's regular press briefing on October 27 about how insurance fraud is prevented, a deputy director-general of its Insurance Bureau cited Articles 16 and 105 and described the underwriting step: the insurer queries an industry reporting system for the cover the insured person already holds with other companies and with the same company, and above certain amounts or premiums it reviews whether the cover fits the applicant's motives and finances. The official declined to discuss the policies in this case, citing the confidentiality of the investigation.

Withdrawing consent, even after you leave Taiwan

Take an American husband who is the insured person on a whole-life policy his Taiwanese wife holds and is named beneficiary of, and who moves back to the United States after they separate (an invented example). Under Article 105(2), he may revoke his consent at any time. The method is written notice to the insurer and to the policyholder. Under Article 105(3), the revocation counts as the policyholder terminating the contract.

Nothing in the article ties the revocation to where he lives or makes him wait for the divorce. A letter mailed from the United States can do the job, as long as one goes to the insurer and another to his wife.

He should expect the policy to end, not to change. Articles 110 and 111, discussed below, give an insured person no way to keep the cover while taking his wife's name off as beneficiary.

Travel and accident cover

Does a travel policy need your signature too? It depends on what the policy is. Article 135 applies Articles 102 through 105, 107, 107-1, 110 through 116, 123, 124 and 125(2) to accident insurance with the necessary changes. If a trip policy is written as accident insurance with a death benefit and someone else takes it out on you, written consent and the right to withdraw it apply in the same way.

Looking up policies on your life

Taiwan's Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China runs a policy record search. It covers personal insurance contracts on which you are the insured person or the policyholder, in force or lapsed within the past two years, as reported by member companies to the industry system. Applications go by post, with the form, supporting documents and a postal transfer receipt, or in person at the association. There is no phone service, and the association's FAQ gives up to 10 working days from receipt.

Apart from you, only a parent with parental authority, a guardian or assistant, a nearest-ranking statutory heir, an estate administrator or an executor may apply. A spouse is always a nearest-ranking heir. Creditors cannot.

The beneficiary is the policyholder's call

Article 110 lets the policyholder name one or more beneficiaries by notifying the insurer, and a beneficiary must be alive when the claim is made. After naming one, the policyholder may still dispose of the benefit by contract or by will unless the right to do so was expressly waived, and the change binds the insurer only once it is notified (Article 111). That is the gap in the record search: the name that matters is in the policyholder's notice to the insurer, and under these two articles the insured person has no part in it.

An English-speaking lawyer in Taipei can go through the Chinese application and consent pages with you, write the revocation letters in Chinese and send them by registered certified mail (存證信函) from Taipei if you have already left, request copies of the signed forms from the insurer, and set out policyholder and beneficiary terms in a divorce settlement. Claims made as an heir, starting with the association's record search, are handled too. Hovering International Law Firm (昊鼎國際法律事務所) takes inquiries at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw; see also our family law page. Taipei office: 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103 (臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2).

The record search will not name the beneficiary. The insurer's file will, and it starts with the page you signed.

Sources

Checked October 28, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my spouse take out a life policy on me without my knowing?
Not a valid death policy. Under Article 105(1) of Taiwan's Insurance Act, a death insurance contract made by a third party is void without the insured person's written consent and an agreed sum insured. The signature has to be your own; Article 3 of the Civil Code allows a seal in its place, and a fingerprint or cross only with two witnesses signing. If a record search turns up a policy you never signed, that article is the starting point for treating it as void.
Do I have to give a reason for withdrawing my consent?
The statute does not ask for one. Article 105(2) says the insured person may revoke the consent at any time, by written notice to the insurer and to the policyholder. Article 105(3) then treats the revocation as the policyholder terminating the contract. Nor does the article say the insured person must still be married to, or living with, the policyholder.
Will the Life Insurance Association's record search tell me who the beneficiary is?
No. According to the association, the result table lists the insurer, product name, policy number, type of cover, sum insured, effective date and whether the policy is still in force. Details of the contract, including whether anything has been changed, have to be requested from each insurer. Under Article 110 the beneficiary is whoever the policyholder named in a notice to that insurer.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.

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