생명보험금과 민법 제1008조 특별수익과의 관계

When one of the inheritors of a insured is designated as a insurance beneficiary, he can take death benefits. The receipt of death benefits is the sole right of the designated beneficiary, wherefore the death benefits should not be included in the decedent`s inheritance calculated at the commencement of inheritance. However, death benefits has certain points of likeness to inheritance in that is it paid by the his death. Even so, when one of the decedent`s inheritors takes death benefits, other inheritors can have a complaint about the disproportionate allocation of inheritance. Therefore, it is a problem where death benefits should be included in the donated property or the bequest stipulated in Article 1008 of Civil Act. Here that is the crux of the matter whether the respect of the decedent's opinion or the equity of other inheritance is the important tasks. The Law of Inheritance in modern tends to respect the decedent's opinion. If the decedent's opinion about the property disposal after his death is expressed, we must comply with his opinion in principle. Accordingly, in case one of the inheritors of a insured is designated as a insurance beneficiary, it is principle that the death benefits should not be regarded as special benefits. In other words, the death benefits should not be included in the donated property or the bequest stipulated in Article 1008 of Civil Act. However, in some exceptional cases there is special circumstances that harms the equity of other inheritance seriously, the death benefits can be regarded as special benefits in Article 1008 of Civil Act. In this situation, there are many theories such as total insurance premiums theory, surrender value theory, death benefit theory and modified death benefit theory about evaluating the surrender value of a special benefits. But we will have to be determined case by case in consideration to the equity of other inheritance.