6Insurance by husband for benefit of wife

¹6. Insurance by husband for benefit of wife. ²[(1) A policy of insurance effected by any married man on his own life, and expressed on the face of it to be for the benefit of his wife, or of his wife and children, or any of them, shall ensure and be deemed to be a trust for the benefit of his wife, or of his wife and children, or any of them, according to the interest so expressed, and shall not, so long any object of the trust remains, be subject to the control of the husbands or to his creditors, or form part of his estate.

When the sum secured by the policy becomes payable, it shall, unless special trustees are duly appointed to receive and hold the same, be paid to the Official Trustee of the ³[State] in which the office at which the insurance was effected is situated, and shall be received and held by him upon the trusts expressed in the policy, or such of them as are then existing.

And in reference to such sum he shall stand in the same position in all respects as if he had been duly appointed trustee thereof by a High Court, under Act No. 17 of 1864 ⁴ [to constitute an Office of Official Trustee], Section 10.

Nothing herein contained shall operate to destroy or impede the right of any creditor to be paid out of the proceeds of any policy of assurance which may have been effected with intent to defraud creditors.

⁵ [(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 2, the provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply in the case of any policy of insurance such as is referred to therein which effected--

(a) by any Hindu, Muhammedan, Sikh or Jain--

(i) in Madras, after the thirty-first day of December, 1913, or

(ii) in any other territory to which this Act extended immediately before the commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959 (61 of 1959), after the first day of April, 1923, or

(iii) in any territory to which this Act extends on and from the commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959 (61 of 1959),

(b) by a Buddhist in any territory to which this Act extends, on or after the commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959 (61 of 1959):

Provided that nothing herein contained shall affect any right or liability which has accrued or been incurred under any decree of a competent Court passed--

(i) before the first day of April, 1923, in any case to which sub-clause (i) or sub-clause (ii) of Clause (a) applies ; or

(ii) before the commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959, in any case to which sub-clause (iii) of Clause (a) or Clause (b) applies.]