A Virginia life policy includes an optional accidental death benefit rider. After the main policy passes its two-year contestability date, the insurer finds a misstatement in the rider application. Under Va. Code § 38.2-3305, which statement is accurate?

Why D is correct

Va. Code § 38.2-3305 governs the main policy's two-year incontestability period but recognizes that optional riders — such as disability and accidental death benefits — may carry their own separate contestability limits. The rider's clock does not simply ride on the main policy's clock: the statute leaves room for the rider's own time limit on defenses. Candidates should therefore track which document is being contested, because the main policy's anniversary does not automatically seal every attached benefit.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) The rider's contestability is not automatically tied to the main policy's issue date; the statute allows riders their own limits.
• B) Riders are not permanently contestable; Va. Code § 38.2-3305 contemplates contestability limits for optional riders as well.
• C) Contestability limits are fixed by the statute and the policy terms, not determined by the Commission after a dispute arises.

Memory hook

Riders keep their own clocks — the main policy's 2 years does not wind them all.