The protection enjoyed by life insurance against creditors� claims is a vast and complex subject, and it can be dealt with here in only the most cursory fashion. Emphasis will be on guiding principles with a minimum of substantiating detail. There are so many facets to the subject that a rather detailed outline is necessary. The most basic dichotomy distinguishes between protection available in the absence of special legislation and that available under statutes specifically designed to give life insurance a preferred status.

A life insurance policy is a valuable property right, and thus a policyowner�s creditors may attempt to acquire an interest in the policy�s value. A creditor may acquire an interest by operation of the contract in the following ways: