Actual Delivery of Insurance Policy Law and Legal Definition
Actual delivery of insurance policy means transferring of an insurance policy by personally handing over the policy to the insured. An insurance policy becomes effective as by the delivery of the instrument where it appears that there is an intention to part with the control of the instrument and to place it in the possession or control of the insured, or some person acting for him, and an act evincing such a purpose.
Where an insurance policy expressly or by implication provides that it shall not bind the insurer until it is actually delivered, such delivery is necessary to complete the contract. [Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Otto, 153 Md. 179 (Md. 1927)]. However, actual delivery of an insurance policy to the insured is not a prerequisite to an effective insurance contract. [Continental Casualty Co. v. Empire Casualty Co., 713 P.2d 384 (Colo. Ct. App. 1985)].
The test of an actual delivery of an insurance policy by the insurer, or its agent, to the insured is not whether it was deposited with the insured, but whether it passed intentionally out of the control or dominion of the insurer, or its agents, into the control or dominion of the insured. It is not an essential to actual delivery that there be a manual delivery to the insured. A delivery to a third person, designated by the insured, is, to all intents and purposes, a delivery to the insured. [Home Life & Acci. Co. v. Compton, 144 Ark. 561, 563 (Ark. 1920)].
