By: Cathrine Thomas

A life insurance settlement is a financial transaction in which life insurance policy owner possess the rights to sell the policy to third party at fair market price for an amount which is more than cash surrender value offered by insurance company. The ownership rights of the policy after selling the insurance policy get transferred to the purchaser and thereby he becomes the beneficiary of the policy thereafter.

The life settlement policy is available only to high-net-worth policy owners of age of 65 years or older. While many of the policy holders are not aware of the life insurance settlement transaction till the financial professional specifies the option of life settlement to them. But a number of experts have agreed to the thought that informing clients about the life insurance settlement policy must be done only under special circumstances and this should be one of the fiduciary duties of financial advisor.

The candidates who would be eligible to enter into the transaction for the life insurance settlement should fulfill the following requirements: Policy holder should be of age 65 years or older, he should possess $50000 as minimum face amount. The insurance policy which is to be sold should have been active for a minimum period of two years, low cash surrender value, and premium should be less than 8% per annum. Further the policy holder should be the owner of either of the following kind’s of insurance policy viz: - universal life policy, term policy, whole life policy, variable policy, survivorship policy, adjustable policy, joint first to die policy.

The transaction of the life insurance settlements are performed by the financial advisors on behalf of the clients. Some of the advisors that have become increasingly a part of the life insurance settlements arena are- accountant, attorney, financial planners, wealth manager, insurance advisor, estate planner, certified senior advisor, and charitable trust officers.

Life insurance provider act as the purchaser in the life insurance settlement transaction and the insurance providers would be responsible for paying the client an amount which is more than the cash surrender value. It is mandatory that the life settlement insurance providers should be licensed in the state where the policy owner resides. There are approximately forty one states that have certain regulations for the sale of policy to third party.

Life settlement brokers act as an intermediary between the policy holder who wishes to sell the insurance policy and the life settlement provider who wishes to purchase the insurance policy. For rendering this service the broker charges a certain percent of commission to sell that policy. In short he acts as an intermediary between the two parties and charges a certain percent of commission.

Financial investor are known as financing entities because they are one who provide capital or finance for life settlement transaction. Life settlement investor uses their own fund to purchase the policy or may raise the fund through wide range of investors. Life settlement provider is also an investor as he uses his own fund to purchase the policy.