What Is A Dependent On Life Insurance? 
Life insurance underwriting gives a lot of latitude to the definition of dependent . Its actually pretty interesting . I think this is because the whole principle of insurable interest implies a certain dependency . It is this principle that is the bottom line as to whether or not the company accepts the beneficiary designation on a submitted application . So who really can be dependent on the insured financially , and thereby qualify as a beneficiary on his or her policy ? Certainly a spouse . Does the spouse have to be working ? No . Can the spouse be rich and independently wealthy ? Yes . They still can be considered financially interdependent . Kids ? For sure . Minors ? Of course . How about children that are of legal age ? Well , they certainly could still be financially dependent on their parents . To some extent . -LRB- Until their parents boot them out of the nest :-RRB- Parents ? Yes . That is very common these days . Elder parents become dependent on their grown children financially . Sad to see , but it happens all the time . Other family members ? Could be . How many times do you see a family taking in a niece , nephew , cousin , aunt , or uncle ? Then you have the whole realm of domestic partners . Same sex . Opposite sex . Older man , younger woman . Older woman , younger man . As long as they have some kind of financial independence shared accounts , etc. they could be named as beneficiaries . And we havent even talked about how businesses can be dependent on people , as well as charities . Interesting , dont you think ? 