law: Married Women's Property Act, 1874
  6. Insurance by husband for benefit of wife
  5[(1)] A policy of insurance effected by any
  
  married man on his own life, and expressed on the face of it to be for the
  
  benefit of his wife, or of his wife and children, or any of them, shall endure
  
  and be deemed to be a trust for the benefit of his wife, or of his wife and
  
  children, or any of them, according to the interest so expressed, and shall
  
  not, so long as any object of the trust remains, be subject to the control of
  
  the husband., or to his creditors, or form part of his estate.
    When the sum secured by the
  
  policy becomes payable, it shall, unless special trustees are duly appointed to
  
  receive and hold the same, be paid to the Official Trustee of the 6[State] in
  
  which the office at which the insurance was effected is situate, and shall be
  
  received and held by him upon the trusts expressed in the policy, or such of
  
  them as are then existing.
    And in reference to such
  
  sum he shall stand in the same position in all respects as if he had been duly
  
  appointed trustee thereof by a High Court, under Act No. XVII
  
  of 1864 7[to constitute an office of Official Trustee], section 10.
    Nothing herein contained
  
  shall operate to destroy or impede the right of any creditor to be paid out of
  
  the proceeds of any policy of assurance which may have been effected 
  
  with intent to defraud creditors.
  2[(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in
  
  section 2, the provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply in the case of any
  
  policy of insurance such as is referred to therein which is effected-
  (a) by 
  
  any Hindu, Muhammadan , Sikh or Jain-
  ( i )
  
   in   Madras , after the
  
  thirty-first day of December, 1913, or
  (ii) in any other
  
  territory to which this Act extended immediately before the commencement of the
  
  Married Women's Property (Extension) Act 1959, after the first day of April,
  
  1923, or
  (iii) in any territory to which this Act extends on and from the
  
  commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959, on or after
  
  such commencement;
  (b) by a Buddhist in
  
  any territory to which this Act extends, on or after the commencement of the
  
  Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959:
  Provided that nothing herein contained shall
  
  affect any right or liability which has accrued or been incurred under any
  
  decree of a competent court passed-
  ( i ) before the first
  
  day of April, 1923, in any case to which sub-clause ( i )
  
  or sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) applies; or
  (ii) before the
  
  commencement of the Married Women's Property (Extension) Act, 1959 (61 of
  
  1959), in any case to which sub-clause (iii) of clause (a) or clause (b)
  
  applies.]