( Wallace v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America, 12 Ill. App.3d 623, 299 N.E.2d 344; Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Whitler (7th Cir. 1949), 172 F.2d 631.) The parties to an application for insurance are competent to make any provision for the effective date of insurance. ( Lentin v. Continental Assurance Co., 412 Ill. 158, 105 N.E.2d 735; Union Bank v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 266 Ill. App. 345.) Such provision may be the issuance of the policy, the date of delivery of the policy or the date of acceptance of the policy by the applicant and is binding and not contrary to public policy.
It is very earnestly urged by the defendant herein that it should prevail in this case for the reason that the policy in question contained a provision that, "No liability shall exist unless and until the policy hereby applied for shall be delivered and the first premium paid, during the lifetime and sound health of the applicant." This is a valid contention and constitutes a good defense to an action predicated on the policy where the facts warrant ( Union Bank of Chicago v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 266 Ill. App. 345). We find ourselves entirely in harmony with the law announced in the above-cited case, but we believe that that is not such a rule as but may be departed from in the proper case.
The contention of defendant company is that as the policy was dated August 24, 1931, it did not become effective until that date, and defendant says that there is no proof in the policy tending to show that the insured was alive on that date, and that it is therefore not liable under the terms of the policy; that the delivery alone was not sufficient to put the policy in force. With other cases defendant cites Union Bank of Chicago v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 266 Ill. App. 345. In that case the policy bore the date of June 24, 1929, and the insured died June 22, 1929.