There are some cases when a life insurance provider will not pay out the death benefit when the insured person dies. Each life insurance policy will identify specific death benefit exclusions. Common exlcusion include, but are not limited to: suicide within the first 2 years of the policy, death from a pre-exisiting condition, death while committing a crime, death from reckless behaviour, etc. Life insurance policies do not pay a benefit for a disability or critical illness that renders you unable to work. You can add disability or critical illness insurance as an add-on to your life insurance policy.