Who triggers the death benefit in a life insurance policy?

In a life insurance policy, the event that triggers the death benefit is the death of the life insured. The life insured is the individual whose life is covered under the policy, and upon their death, the insurer is obligated to pay the death benefit to the beneficiary designated in the policy. This understanding plays a crucial role in grasping how life insurance operates; the life insured does not need to be the policyholder or the beneficiary for the coverage to be in effect.

The policyholder is simply the person who owns the policy and might also be the one who pays the premiums. The insurer's role is to provide the coverage and fulfill the terms of the policy, but they do not initiate the trigger for the benefits. The beneficiary is the individual who receives the death benefit, but they do not have control over when that benefit is triggered; that is solely dependent on the life insured's passing. Therefore, the correct answer emphasizes the critical event—the death of the life insured—which is the fundamental condition for the payment of the death benefit.