Not everybody. Posts 20 and 29 indicate that some insurance companies do pay after the insured person has committed suicide ... after 2 years of holding the policy.
More information from http://www.insurancequotes.org/life/the-truth-about-suicide-life-insurance/:
"...many people incorrectly believe that if you commit suicide, your life insurance will refuse to pay out — bottom line.
In actuality, that’s not always the case. The answer is actually in an individual life insurance policy. Many life insurance policies, just like any other insurance coverage, come with certain exclusions that null and void any benefits should you expire in a certain way, i.e., suicide.
However, there can be fine print attached to that exclusion. Some policies will pay benefits even if the policyholder committed suicide, but the policyholder would have had to committed suicide after holding the life insurance policy for two to three years depending on the carrier..."
Alwasy exceptions. I knew that was coming. No policy I have ever had carried such an exclusion and why should it?
My only involvement with the suicide clause was the case of a key employee involved in a single car accident driving to work very early in the morning that the insurer claimed was suicide. It was not and they did eventually pay to the survivors but not until some considerable effort had been expended by corporate security at the behest of the chairman. That was in the old days when big shots reached down to help out even when they didn’t have to.