Life insurance settlements, which began during 1980s, refer to purchase of existing life insurance policies of either senior citizens or ill people. For example, if an insurance policy holder is in bad need of money for the treatment of his serious disease like cancer, heart problem or AIDS, he/she can opt for life insurance settlements with some other people. They will sell their policies to the highest bidder and get around 50 to 60 percent of the face value of the policy, which they can use for the treatment and the purchase of expensive drugs. Even senior citizens over 65 years of age can sell their policies to others for the amount more than the cash surrender value. There are some companies who have expertise in the business of purchasing existing policies from senior citizens. Therefore depending on the purpose of the sale, one can categorize life insurance settlements into Viatical settlements and Senior Settlements. Further life settlements have become a very important tool for many areas as under.
Bankruptcy
Sometimes in case of insolvency situations, the policyholders may sell their policies to meet their obligations to their creditors. Even the companies which are under turn around stage can sell the insurance policies which they think no longer needed.
Trust or Estate Planning
Whenever any trust is finding difficulty in paying premiums of the trust's policies, when the beneficiaries are deceased, when there is a change in tax laws or when the policy taken long back not performing well now, the trust authorities may sell off the insurance policies.
Charitable Grounds
Some policy owners may donate their life insurance policies to the charitable organizations. If the charities do not want to take the pains of making payments of premiums, they can sell the policies.
Commercial Lending Purposes
Some people may take an insurance policy for the purpose of a loan and so once the loan has been repaid completely, the policyholder may sell off the policy and life settlements can be looked into.
Retirement
If the policyholder is going to retire from his employment and if he thinks that the premiums on his insurance policy is about to increase in future, then the policy owner can opt for life insurance settlement.
In life insurance settlement, the amount paid in lump sum can be used either to purchase a better cost effective insurance policy, for medical treatment purposes or for purchasing another investment. If the policy holder still needs insurance coverage for more time but the policy is not performing well, then the policy owner can replace the insurance coverage with some other policy while selling off the old policy. It is advisable for the policyholder to consult lawyer or legal advisor before going for life insurance settlement to get the complete idea as to the tax implications of his policy.
Generally it will take six to eight weeks for receiving a bid in life settlement. Most life settlement contracts will be done through institutional funders as mediators. These institutions involve in a contract with the policy owner in which all the terms and conditions of the life settlement transaction are detailed. Once the policy owner accepts this contract, the settlement funder credits the amount in the account of the owner and submits all the necessary documents to the insurance company asking for the change of ownership and the beneficiary of the policy. These institutional funders are known as life insurance settlement companies.
On the other hand, corporate employers also purchase life insurances like Corporate Owned Life Insurance to cover the fringe benefits of one or more employees under retirement plans. The amount so obtained from the settlement of these insurances can be used by the employer to meet the financial obligations to the employees at the time of their retirement. However, both the corporate employer and individual life insurance policy owner should be very careful before entering into the contract of the settlement contract. They should identify the tax implications of such settlement proceedings and should go for only licensed settlement broker. They should understand the detailed process of settlement before hand.