Your duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when applying for Life Insurance 

We know how important it is to have an insurer who protects and supports you, your loved ones, and your lifestyle at all stages in life.

Before you enter into a Life Insurance policy with us, you have a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to us.

When you apply for a Life Insurance policy, apply to change your existing policy, or apply to reinstate your policy, we may ask you questions about things like your health and medical history, occupation, lifestyle, pastimes, and current insurance. The answers you give us are vital to our decision whether to insure you and on what terms, including the premiums we charge.  

You must answer our questions honestly, accurately, and to the best of your knowledge and not make a misrepresentation to us. A misrepresentation may have an impact on a claim in the future. A misrepresentation includes a statement that is false, partially false, or that doesn’t fairly reflect the truth.

You must also comply when you answer questions on someone else's behalf. 

Your duty continues up until we inform you that we have entered into a policy with you (including variations to your cover).

If you do not meet your duty, we may reject or not fully pay your claim. Within the first three years, we may treat your cover as if it never existed if we would not have insured you on any terms if you had met the duty.

Instead of treating your cover as if it never existed, we may reduce the cover amount using a formula prescribed by law (we can only do this within the first three years for Life Cover). For Critical Illness Cover and Permanently Unable to Work Cover, we may also change the terms of your cover to put us in the same position we would have been in if you had met the duty. If you deliberately provide dishonest or inaccurate answers or were reckless in answering our questions, this is an act of fraud, and we may treat your cover as if it never existed. We will apply these rights separately to Life cover, Critical Illness cover and Permanently Unable to Work cover.

 

Need more information or have a question? We’re here to help. Submit an enquiry online or give us a call today. 

When answering our questions, you must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to us. A misrepresentation includes a statement that is false, partially false, or that doesn’t fairly reflect the truth. 

If you don't comply with your duty, depending on the situation and cover, we may: 

  • Reduce or not pay a claim 
  • Change the terms of your policy
  • Treat your policy as if it never existed
For more information, watch our short video.
The duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation applies to you if, from 4 September 2021, you:
  • Make a new application for a Life Insurance policy
  • Apply for an increase in cover amount or additional cover on an existing Life Insurance policy
  • Apply to reinstate a Life Insurance policy you purchased after 4 September 2021

We’ll tell you when this duty applies.

If you don’t meet your duty, we may reject or only partially pay any claims.

Within the first three years, we may treat your cover like it never existed if we wouldn’t have insured you on any terms if you had met the duty.

Within the first three years of Life cover, instead of treating your cover as if it never existed, we may instead reduce the cover amount using a formula prescribed by law. 

For Critical Illness cover and Permanently Unable to Work cover, we may reduce the cover amount using a formula prescribed by law. We may also change the terms of your cover to put us in the same position we would have been in if you had met the duty.

If you deliberately give dishonest or inaccurate answers or are reckless in answering our questions, this is an act of fraud, and we may treat your cover as if it never existed.

We’ll apply these rights separately to Life cover, Critical Illness cover and Permanently Unable to Work cover.

When deciding whether you have made a misrepresentation, some of the things that we consider include the type of insurance, who it’s intended to be sold to, and your characteristics and circumstances that we’re aware of or should reasonably have been aware of.
When you’re answering our questions, you’re answering on behalf of everyone who will be insured by the policy. This means we’ll treat any answers or representations that you give as theirs.

If you’re unsure about whether you should include information, or if you have difficulty answering our questions, contact us. Our friendly team members will take every care to make sure our questions are clear and specific. 

If you need a bit of extra help to respond to our questions, that’s okay. We can work with your support person, or we may even be able to provide you with free access to a translator. You can take the time you need during the application process. Before continuing with your application, you can check information about health-related questions with your doctor or other healthcare provider if you’re not sure.

Your duty continues up until we let you know that we’ve entered into a policy with you, including variations to your cover. Until that point, you must let us know if there are any changes to your circumstances.

During the application process, you must make sure the answers you give are accurate and not misleading. When we ask you to confirm if there have been any changes to your answers, you must update any information that has changed since starting your application.

If you need to let us know of a change to your answers during the application, you can change this within your application. If you can’t change your answers by yourself, you can contact us to make the necessary changes on your behalf.

If you’ve already purchased your Life Insurance policy and you think you may have made a mistake on your application, contact us immediately and we’ll let you know whether it has any impact on the cover. We may need more information from you to understand the impact on the cover.

Allianz acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work across Australia. We pay our respect to First Nations Elders past and present.



Any advice here does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Before making a decision about this insurance, consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)/Policy Wording and Supplementary PDS (if applicable). Where applicable, the PDS/Policy Wording, Supplementary PDS and Target Market Determination (TMD) for this insurance are available on this website. We do not provide any form of advice if you call us to enquire about or purchase a product.

Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFS Licence No. 234708 is the insurer of any general insurance products offered, and Allianz Australia Life Insurance Limited ABN 27 076 033 782 AFS Licence No. 296559 is the insurer of any life insurance products offered. Each entity is responsible for any statements and representations made about its products, on this website.