When buying life insurance, most people focus on the sum assured, policy term, and premium. But there’s one lesser-known feature that can make a huge difference in protecting your family’s future — the Married Women’s Property Act (MWPA), 1874.
What is MWPA?
The MWPA is a legal provision that ensures the life insurance payout goes only to the wife and/or children of the policyholder — even if there are outstanding loans, legal claims, or disputes after the policyholder’s death.
“In case of death of the life assured with a policy under MWPA, the wife or children, whoever is the beneficiary, will be the only ones who will have access to the claim amount,” said Varun Agarwal, Head of Term Insurance at Policybazaar.
That means if the policyholder has debts, the creditors cannot touch the insurance proceeds.
Sarita Joshi, Head of Health and Life Insurance at Probus, explains it further: “Since these policies are taken under the Act, the proceeds cannot be claimed by the creditors, even if the policyholder gets insolvent. The benefits are treated as a trust. Insurance companies pay the sum assured directly to the beneficiaries.”
