(a) No life or accident and sickness insurance contract upon an individual, except a contract of group life insurance or of group or blanket accident and sickness insurance, shall be made or effectuated unless at the time of the making of the contract the individual insured, being of competent legal capacity to contract, applies for a life or accident and sickness insurance contract or consents in writing to the contract, except in the following cases:

(1) A spouse may effectuate insurance upon the other spouse;

(2) Any person having an insurable interest in the life of a minor or any person upon whom a minor is dependent for support and maintenance may effectuate insurance upon the life of or pertaining to the minor;

(3) An application for a family policy may be signed by either parent, by a stepparent, or by husband or wife;

(4) A publicly owned corporation may effectuate insurance upon its employees in whom it has an insurable interest;

(5) A corporation not described in paragraph (4) of this subsection may effectuate insurance upon its employees in whom it has an insurable interest and a trustee of a trust established by a corporation providing life, health, disability, retirement, or similar benefits may effectuate insurance upon employees for whom such benefits are to be provided, if the insurance contract or contracts held by the corporation or the trustee cover at least 100 employees. For purposes of this paragraph, any employee of a group of corporations consisting of a parent corporation and its directly or indirectly owned subsidiaries shall be considered to be an employee of each corporation within the group; or

(6) A corporation described in paragraph (4) or (5) of this subsection or the trustee of a trust established by such corporation for its sole benefit may exchange any policy which was issued to itself on the life of an employee or retiree of the corporation, or which was issued to another corporation or the trustee of a trust established by such other corporation for its sole benefit on the life of an employee or retiree of such other corporation, and the exchanging corporation has acquired by purchase, merger, or otherwise all or part of such other corporation's business for a new policy of insurance on such individual's life issued to the exchanging corporation.

(b) If a contract of life insurance is issued as authorized in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section, the insurer shall be required to give written notice of such life insurance in accordance with this subsection. At the time of the issuance or delivery of the contract of insurance, notice of the issuance of the policy shall be delivered to the insured in person or by depositing the notice in the United States mail, to be dispatched by at least first-class mail to the home, business, or other address of record of the insured. The insurer may obtain a receipt provided by the United States Postal Service as evidence of mailing such notice or obtain such other evidence of mailing as prescribed or accepted by the United States Postal Service. The insurer shall not be required to provide the notice set forth in this subsection with respect to any application for credit life insurance; any insured who is older than the age of majority and who has signed or otherwise acknowledged the application in writing; any application for insurance covering the life of a minor; or any application for a contract of life insurance with a face amount of less than $10,000.00.

(c) An insurer shall be entitled to rely upon all statements, declarations, and representations made by an applicant for insurance relative to the insurable interest which such applicant has in the insured; and no insurer shall incur any legal liability except as set forth in the policy, by virtue of any untrue statements, declarations, or representations so relied upon in good faith by the insurer.

(d) As used in paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) of subsection (a) of this Code section, the term "employee" shall include any and all directors, officers, employees, retired employees, or the dependents of such persons. The term "employee" shall include any former employee, but only for the purpose of replacing existing life insurance that will be surrendered in exchange for new life insurance in an amount not exceeding the insurance being surrendered.