Brief Introduction

Pan, the creditor, and Wu, the debtor, had a private loan dispute. In 2021, the court decided that Wu would repay Pan 6.91 million yuan. Later, Pan applied to the court for enforcement according to the effective judgment. In the process of execution, the court froze and deducted the amount enjoyed by the insurance contract insured by Mr. Wu. After receiving the notice from the court, Mr. Wu raised an objection to the execution, believing that his personal insurance was not enforceable property, and the court should not enforce it.

The court finds that

Life insurance is a kind of insurance with life expectancy and body as the insurance object. It is a typical insurance with savings and value. The policy itself has a certain cash value, and has become a more common way of investment and financing in life. This saving and valuable nature of life insurance is not only reflected in the fact that during the duration of the insurance contract, the applicant can obtain dividend income such as interest, but also reflected in the fact that the applicant can pledge loans within the limit of the cash value of the insurance policy, and also reflected in the fact that during the insurance period, the applicant can unilaterally terminate the insurance contract at any time to withdraw the cash value of the insurance policy. Therefore, the cash value of the policy involved in the case has obvious property attributes. At the same time, Article 47 of the Insurance Law stipulates: "If the applicant terminates the contract, the insurer shall return the cash value of the insurance policy as agreed in the contract within 30 days from the date of receiving the notice of termination of the contract." Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China (III) The first paragraph of Article 16 stipulates: "When the insurance contract is terminated, the applicant, the insured and the beneficiary are different subjects. If the insured or the beneficiary requests to return the cash value of the insurance policy, the people's court will not support it, except otherwise agreed in the insurance contract." According to the provisions of the above laws and judicial interpretations, after the termination of the insurance contract, The cash value of an insurance policy should generally belong to the applicant. Therefore, the cash value of the insurance policy involved in the case belongs to the applicant Wu as a property right. The first paragraph of Article 2 of the Regulations on Arrest and Freeze stipulates that "the people's court may seal up, detain and freeze the movable property in the possession of the person subjected to execution, the immovable property registered in the name of the person subjected to execution, specific movable property and other property rights." Therefore, the cash value of the insurance policy involved in the case can be identified as the property of Wu, the person subjected to execution, and can become the object of execution of the case.

Disagreement of opinion

In the process of court enforcement, people often encounter the existence of life insurance under the name of the person to be enforced. In judicial practice, there are different views on whether life insurance can be enforced.

The first view is that life insurance cannot be enforced. The life insurance contract is subject to the health and body of the person, attached to the body of the insured, and has the nature of personal attachment and exclusiveness. The court's enforcement will damage the survival rights and interests of the insured, and the enforcement of the cash value of life insurance has no legal basis. In the Opinions on Difficult Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Enforcement Cases issued by the Guangdong Higher People's Court, the court answered whether the court could enforce the life insurance products of the person subjected to enforcement. The handling opinion was that the consent of the person subjected to enforcement to surrender was taken as a prerequisite for the execution of life insurance. If the person subjected to enforcement agreed to surrender, it could be enforced. If the person subjected to enforcement did not agree to surrender, Cannot be enforced. The Opinions on Solving Difficult Problems in Enforcement Cases issued by the Higher People's Court of Shandong Province also takes the consent of the person subjected to enforcement to surrender insurance as a precondition for the implementation of life insurance.

The second view is that life insurance is enforceable. The cash value of life insurance comes from the insurance premium paid by the applicant. Its property rights and interests belong to the applicant and constitute the property of the applicant. At the same time, the cash value of life insurance has property attributes and can bring certain economic value. In addition, life insurance does not belong to the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Sealing up, Seizure and Freezing Property in the Civil Enforcement of People's Courts The scope of property that shall not be sealed up, distrained or frozen, so the life insurance of the person subjected to execution can be enforced. The Notice on Strengthening and Regulating the Enforcement of Property Rights and Interests of Life Insurance Products Owned by the Executee issued by Jiangsu Higher People's Court believes that the court can take freezing and deduction measures for the life insurance of the Executee.

The author agrees with the second view. Life insurance is of saving and value, and it has the function of investment and financing. The applicant can withdraw the income enjoyed by the insurance policy at any time by canceling the insurance contract, and then convert it into its property, so as to avoid enforcement. Moreover, when the court enforces the property benefits of the life insurance, it does not cause harm to the personal nature of the person to be enforced. Moreover, the court enforces the enforcement in order to safeguard the rights and interests of the person applying for enforcement, and enforces the property under the name of the person to be enforced with the force of the state, not based on the will of the person to be enforced. Perhaps some opinions will also propose a compromise, that is, the life insurance purchased by the person subjected to enforcement before the court enforces will not be disposed of, but only the life insurance purchased by the person subjected to enforcement after the enforcement. However, in practice, this kind of investigation and control is not timely or lags behind for a long time, and neither the court nor the person applying for enforcement can understand it in a timely manner, resulting in avoidance of enforcement.