2010 Minnesota Statutes

60A.0785 PROHIBITION; ENTRY INTO SETTLEMENT CONTRACTS.

Subdivision 1.Prohibition.

No prospective purchaser of the policy or beneficial interest in the policy shall, at any time prior to issuance of a policy, or during a four-year period commencing with the date of issuance of the policy, enter into a settlement contract or any other agreement the effect of which is to acquire the policy or a beneficial interest in the policy regardless of the date the compensation is to be provided and regardless of the date the assignment, transfer, sale, devise, bequest, or surrender of the policy or beneficial interest in the policy is to occur, unless and until the prospective purchaser has determined, based on reasonable inquiry, which includes but is not limited to questioning the insured and reviewing the broker's files, that none of the following circumstances are present:

(1) there was an agreement or understanding, before issuance of the policy, between the insured, policyowner, or owner of a beneficial interest in the policy, and another person to guarantee any liability or to purchase, or stand ready to purchase, the policy or an interest therein, including through an assumption or forgiveness of a loan; or

(2) both of the following are present:

(i) all or a portion of the policy premiums were funded by means other than by the insured's personal assets or assets provided by a person who is closely related to the insured by blood or law or who has a lawful and substantial economic interest in the continued life of the insured. For purposes of this provision, funds from a premium finance loan are considered assets of the insured or such person only if the insured or such person is contractually obligated to repay the full amount of the loan and to pledge personal assets, other than the policy itself, for loan amounts exceeding the policy's cash value; and

(ii) the insured underwent a life expectancy evaluation within the 18-month time period immediately prior to the issuance of the policy and, during the same time period, the results of the life expectancy evaluation were shared with or used by any person for the purpose of determining the actual or potential value of the policy in the secondary market. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent such a life expectancy evaluation from being shared with or used by the insured or the insured's accountant, attorney, or insurance producer for estate planning purposes so long as the life expectancy evaluation is not used by such persons to determine the actual or potential value of the policy in the secondary market.

Subd. 2.Certification.

As part of the prospective purchaser's responsibility to make reasonable inquiry, the prospective purchaser shall request, and the settlement broker shall provide, a certification in which the broker certifies that, to the best of the broker's knowledge, any life expectancy evaluation performed on the insured prior to the issuance of the policy was not used by or shared with any other person prior to the issuance of the policy for the purpose of determining the actual or potential value of the policy in the secondary market.

Subd. 3.Legitimate insurance transactions.

Nothing in sections 60A.078 to 60A.0789 prevents:

(1) any policyowner, whether or not the policyowner is also the subject of the insurance, from entering into a legitimate settlement contract;

(2) any person from soliciting a person to enter into a legitimate settlement contract;

(3) a person from enforcing the payment of proceeds from the interest obtained under a legitimate settlement contract; or

(4) the assignment, sale, transfer, devise, or bequest with respect to the death benefit or ownership of any portion of a policy, provided the assignment, sale, transfer, devise, or bequest is connected to a legitimate settlement contract and not part of or in furtherance of STOLI practices.

History:

2009 c 52 s 5