Should I "buy" my dad's whole life policy?

My father purchased a New York Life Insurance whole life policy, “NYLIAC Protector 2005 Universal Life Insurance” for $800,000 death benefit in September 2010. He is in his mid 60s (I want to be a tad obscure here) and currently has no loans out against the policy.

He says he doesn’t need the policy anymore. All my siblings are working. He doesn’t need to support anyone. He is not in perfect health, but it not ill by any means. He jokes that he will not live to 80 based on his family history. And I would guess it is 50-50 he makes it past 80 years. The blood line isn’t in perfect health. And my father is not ill, but he probably a 90% probability that he will have >2 chronic medical problems by 80 years old.

Anyways, he wants me to buy the whole life policy so he can pay off some rental properties. And I get a payout when he passes. Currently he is paying $200 monthly & the yearly statement says the policy is at risk of lapsing by summer 2025. So it will need more money kicked each in each month going forward. If I “buy” the policy I will be solely responsible for paying all monthly/annual premiums & will get 100% of the death benefit. No splitting of costs of payouts. My siblings are not interested or willing to put up the cash.

He initially said he will sell it to me for $500,000. I’m heavily invested in the markets, broad based low cost global equities. I ran many scenarios & typical investing will rip the pants off this whole life policy. So I backwards ran some numbers & said closer to $325,000, as he told me “what amount now so in 15 years you will have $850,000?” (death benefit plus some speculated cash value).

He isn’t pressuring me. He said if it is not a good deal I should not buy the policy. But he feels he has paid into it for 14 years now & objectively no insurance company will write him a policy at this point. So if I don’t take the policy, it will cancel & be lost “forever”.

Even at $325,000, it isn’t a great investment I feel. Buying the policy will not put me in the poor house. At all.

I have an “inforce illustration” that we recently requested for this purchase. The target premium is $11,538.

I don’t need the policy. But if I even break even, & my dad can pay off his rental properties (he wants to not have a mortgage so he can pocket “all” the rent for his “retirement”), I can buy the policy. And like my credit cards & bank accounts & investment accounts, I will keep a weekly/biweekly check on it. My goal would be to kick in the lowest monthly amount to ensure it does not lapse. I don’t have a desire to kick in more than that for any cash value.

And if I buy the policy & my dad lives to 109, then I will take credit for buying him into old old old age & paying monthly to keep him here.

Terrible idea? Fantastic idea? I have zero knowledge of whole life.

My dad did mention lets go sit down with the agent & ask questions. I can. But the agent is actually a family member. And based on the surrender charges, my father was definitely “sold” this policy. Maybe it is a great policy, but I’m confident the family member was paid pretty well on the policy. So I wanted some opinions of disinterested people.