STEELE, Chief Justice:

This is a proceeding, under Article IV, Section 11(8) of the Delaware Constitution and Supreme Court Rule 41, on a question of law certified to, and accepted by us, from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The certified questions arise from two similar cases—Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. v. Joseph Schlanger 2006 Insurance Trust (Schlanger) and PHL Variable Insurance Co. v. Price Dawe 2006 Insurance Trust (Dawe).1 In both cases, an insurer sought a judicial declaration that a life insurance policy was void as an illegal contract wagering on human life that accordingly lacks an insurable interest. The district court denied both motions to dismiss and certified three questions to the Supreme Court of Delaware concerning the incontestability provision required under 18 Del. C. § 2908 and the insurable interest requirement under 18 Del. C. § 2704.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Schlanger Trust is a Delaware statutory trust with its principal place of business in Delaware. On December 14, 2006, Lincoln National Life Insurance Company issued a $6 million life insurance policy on Joseph Schlanger's life to the Schlanger Trust. The policy contains an incontestability clause stating that "We [Lincoln] will not contest this policy after it has been in force during the Insured's lifetime for 2 years from the Issue Date." Schlanger died on January 21, 2009, more than two years after the policy's issue date. On February 13, 2009, the Schlanger Trust submitted a claim for the death benefit under the policy. Lincoln first contested the policy when it filed this action on July 10, 2009. These facts are undisputed and constitute the official record for our purposes.2

In its original complaint, Lincoln contends that the policy was never intended for legitimate insurance needs, but in reality was the product of a stranger originated life insurance ("STOLI") scheme promoted by GIII, a private investing entity. Lincoln alleges a multi-layered trust scheme that is identical in form to the arrangement described above in Dawe. The insurance company claims that the beneficiary of the Schlanger Trust was actually another trust, the Joseph Schlanger 2006 Family Trust. Although Schlanger himself was the beneficiary of the Family Trust, Lincoln contends that under the scheme, immediately upon issuance of the policy Schlanger sold his beneficial interest in the Family Trust to GIII, which paid all of the premiums. Lincoln asserts that the entire trust structure was intended to generate, and then conceal, a life insurance policy that would allow GIII, an investor with no insurable interest, to speculate on Schlanger's life. After filing a challenge to the policy in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, the defendant Trust moved to dismiss the complaint, asserting that the policy's two-year contestability period barred Lincoln's claim. On July 20, 2010, the district court denied the Trust's motion and certified a single question to this Court, which we accepted.

THE CERTIFIED QUESTION

The question presented is an issue of law which this Court decides de novo.3

ANALYSIS

This certified question, shared by both Dawe and Schlanger, concerns whether an insurer may claim that a life insurance policy never came into existence, on the basis of a lack of insurable interest, where the challenge occurs after the insurance contract's mandatory contestability period expires. As certified by the district court in Schlanger:

Our answer to the question is "YES." Consistent with the view of the majority of courts, we hold that a life insurance policy lacking an insurable interest is void as against public policy and thus never comes into force, making the incontestability provision inapplicable.

Lincoln and amicus curiae American Council of Life Insurers argue that we should side with the majority of courts and hold that the expiration of a contractual contestability period mandated by the Delaware Insurance Code does not bar an insurer from contesting the validity of a life insurance policy based on a lack of insurable interest. They contend that under Delaware law, a life insurance policy without an insurable interest is nothing more than a wager on human life that is void as against public policy. As a result, the insurers assert, the incontestability provision does not bar their suits because the provision, which is but one component of the entire life insurance contract, never legally came into effect at all.

The defendant Schlanger Trust argues that we should side with the courts of New York and Michigan and hold that the incontestability provision of each life insurance contract bars plaintiffs' suits. They contend that the plain meaning of the pertinent provisions of the Insurance Code makes clear that these provisions bar all challenges to a life insurance policy's validity after the required contestability period expires. The defendants argue that the distinction between contracts void at the outset and those voidable at the option of the innocent party is irrelevant, and that life insurance policies in violation of Delaware's insurable interest requirement are not automatically void.

A. Historical Background

An incontestability clause is a contractual provision where the insurer agrees, after a policy has been in force for a given period of time, that it will not contest the policy based on misrepresentations in the application.6 The insurance industry has used incontestability clauses for more than 100 years to encourage customers to purchase insurance.7 Originating in England in the mid-nineteenth century, incontestability clauses were created as a marketing device to increase public trust in insurance companies.8 Before incontestability clauses were introduced, insured's sometimes paid premiums for a long period of time only to have the insurer declare the contract void because of misrepresentations in the application.9 These misrepresentations were often innocent, but the insured was deceased and unable to address the basis of the challenge.10 Insurance companies therefore created the incontestability clause in order to address consumer uncertainty.

Incontestability clauses thus provide security in financial planning for the insured, while also providing an insurer a reasonable opportunity to investigate any misrepresentations in the application. These provisions essentially serve the same function as statutes of limitation and repose.11 By the early twentieth century, the life insurance policies included incontestability clauses as a matter of industry practice.12 Forty three states have adopted mandatory incontestability clauses relating to life insurance policies, while four states also have incontestability clauses relating to other types of insurance.13 Consequently, over the years, the clause has become a standard provision in most, if not all, life insurance contracts.14

B. Delaware Insurance Code

The Delaware Insurance Code requires that all life insurance policies include an incontestability clause.15 The statute in relevant part provides:

Section 2917 of the Insurance Code affirms the class of challenges that are covered by a mandatory incontestability provision, but also lists certain challenges that are not precluded by this language:

The defendant trusts argue that the plain language of section 2917 makes clear that an incontestability clause precludes any challenge to the enforceability of a life insurance contract after the two year period. This argument ignores the fact that the Delaware General Assembly chose to implement its goals through a mandatory contractual term, as opposed to a direct ban on challenges to policy validity after a certain time. This creates an ambiguity in section 2917 surrounding the word "validity," a term whose plain meaning in a different context might apply to all types of challenges. Put simply, under the Delaware statute, the incontestability provision should be treated like any other contract term. That reading is supported by the plain language of section 2908, which states that "[t]here shall be a provision that the policy shall be incontestable after it has been in force during the lifetime of the insured for a period of not more than 2 years." These words make the incontestability period directly contingent, and predicated, upon the formation of a valid contract. That is the view of the majority of state courts that have considered this question.18

C. Distinguishing between void and voidable contracts

As with all contracts, fraud in the inducement renders a life insurance policy voidable at the election of the innocent party.19 Certain agreements, however, are so egregiously flawed that they are void at the outset. Those arrangements are often referred to as being void ab initio, Latin for "from the beginning." A court may never enforce agreements void ab initio, no matter what the intentions of the parties may be. The United States District Court for the District of Delaware succinctly explained this basic contract doctrine in the context of fraud:

Under Delaware common law, contracts that offend public policy or harm the public are deemed void, as opposed to voidable.21

D. A life insurance contract that lacks an insurable interest at inception is void ab initio

Under Delaware common law, if a life insurance policy lacks an insurable interest at inception, it is void ab initio22 because it violates Delaware's clear public policy against wagering.23 It, therefore, follows that if no insurance policy ever legally came into effect, then neither did any of its provisions, including the statutorily required incontestability clause. "[T]he incontestable clause is no less a part of the contract than any other provision of it."24 As a result, the incontestability provision does not bar an insurer from asserting a claim on the basis of a lack of insurable interest after the incontestability period expires.25 We reject the contrary result reached in New England Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Caruso, because in that case the New York court, unlike Delaware and most other jurisdictions, held that a policy lacking an insurable interest was not void at the outset.26

Therefore, an insurer can challenge the enforceability of a life insurance contract after the incontestability period on the basis of a lack of an insurable interest.

CONCLUSION

For the above reasons, this Certified Question is answered in the affirmative.