What type of third-party beneficiary is created when a gift is made through a life insurance policy?

A gift made through a life insurance policy typically results in the creation of a donee beneficiary. This occurs because the beneficiary named in a life insurance policy is intended to receive the benefits as a form of gift from the policyholder upon their death. The donee beneficiary is someone who benefits from a contractual arrangement, even though the contract was not made directly for their benefit but rather to confer a gift.

In the context of life insurance, the policyholder establishes the policy with a clear intention to provide financial support to the named beneficiary after their passing. As such, the beneficiary is not required to provide any consideration in exchange for the benefits received, which is a hallmark of donee beneficiaries. This differs from a creditor beneficiary, who stands to benefit from a contract because someone owes them a duty or obligation. Similarly, incidental beneficiaries, who might benefit from a contract indirectly, do not have any enforceable rights since they were not intended to benefit directly from the contractual arrangement.

Intended beneficiaries, while they can overlap with donee beneficiaries, typically refer to anyone the parties to the contract intended to benefit, which doesn't specifically capture the essence of the gift made through life insurance as effectively as "donee beneficiary" does. Thus, the designation of the