On 4 March 2022, the Liechtenstein Supreme Court issued its first final decision in one of our cases against Swiss Life Liechtenstein (legal successor of Capital Life), confirming the first-instance ruling of the Liechtenstein Regional Court that policyholders are entitled to a perpetual right of withdrawal under Art 65 VersVG (Liechtenstein Insurance Contract Act) if they were not properly informed about the right of withdrawal.
In the present case, Art 65 VersVG in the relevant version provided for a right of withdrawal of the policyholder within one month after knowledge of the conclusion of the contract.
The insurance documents incorrectly informed the policyholder about the 14-day withdrawal period that was legally valid at the time of the application, whereas at the time of the acceptance of the policy by sending it to the policyholder, the 1-month withdrawal period was valid in any case.
It was clarified that the conclusion of a life insurance contract requires acceptance, which would regularly become perfect by sending the policy. Since the change in the legal situation had already been sufficiently announced in advance, it would have been possible for the insurance company to fit the cancellation instruction into the insurance documents without any problems.