As a matter of public policy, State legislatures realize that some very depressed people might plan a suicide, take out a big insurance policy, and then kill themselves. To discourage this, States set up the 2 year rule on the belief/theory that those who want suicide to pay off to their families won't wait a full 2 years to kill themselves.

On the other hand, surviving families of suicide victims are in desperate need of financial support. That's why most if not all states also require that if you are a life insurance company offering life insurance, you cannot exclude suicide from payment - so long as the suicide takes place at least 2 years after the policy was bought.

If a given policy has fine print language that differs from State law on this point, State law controls.

If a policy appears to pay for suicide at all times, State law again controls. The policy language will be ignored by the insurance company, and if taken to court, will use as its primary defense the express terms of State law, which the courts will sustain.

This is a delicate subject matter, and needs to be explained accurately with reference to State law and public policy, which serves sometimes conflicting needs.