Does Smoking Void A Life Insurance Policy? 
Fully underwritten life insurance policies require you to declare whether or not you use any tobacco products . Although cigars and pipes are smoked , the question seems to suggest cigarettes . Cigarette smoking shortens life expectancy , so smokers pay more for life insurance . If smoking is declared on the application and the life insurance company offers an underwriting decision after the due diligence process , a death claim will be paid . If the insured takes up smoking after the policy has been issued as a nonsmoker , the life insurance company will pay the claim . It is the circumvention of truth that may indeed be classified as fraud that could void the policy in certain states or reduce the death benefit based on smoker rates at the date of issue . Some occasional smokers attempt to beat the urine analysis detection of cotinine , the byproduct of nicotine , by not smoking 8-10 days before the exam banking on their body chemistry to purge the continine from their systems . But you would have to lie on the application . And again , lying on the application could be considered fraud in some states . My advice : There is one life insurance company that offers nonsmoking rates to smokers for three years in an attempt to give the insured time to quit smoking . We can help with that . But bottom line : do n't try to game the system . 