Who must be an individual and cannot be a corporation in an annuity contract?

In the context of an annuity contract, the annuitant must be an individual rather than a corporation. The annuitant is the person whose life is used to measure the annuity's payouts, which means that their life expectancy directly influences the terms of the annuity. Since annuities are structured around the financial needs and circumstances of individual people, it is essential that the annuitant is a natural person who can be assigned a life span.

In contrast, the owner of the annuity can be either an individual or a corporation, as the owner simply holds the contract and has rights to the benefits, which do not inherently depend on mortality. Similarly, beneficiaries, who receive benefits upon the annuitant's passing, can be individuals or entities, while the insurer—the company providing the annuity—obviously is a corporation. This distinction highlights the unique role of the annuitant as a person whose life events impact the terms of the annuity agreement.