Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 44-1102

Current with changes through the 2024 First Special Legislative Session

Section 44-1102 - Terms, defined

For purposes of the Viatical Settlements Act:

(1) Advertising means any written, electronic, or printed communication or any communication by means of recorded telephone messages or transmitted on radio, television, the Internet, or similar communications media, including film strips, motion pictures, and videos, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed directly before the public, in this state, for the purpose of creating an interest in or inducing a person to sell, assign, devise, bequest, or transfer the death benefit or ownership of a life insurance policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract;

(2) Business of viatical settlements means an activity involved in, but not limited to, the offering, soliciting, negotiating, procuring, effectuating, purchasing, investing, financing, monitoring, tracking, underwriting, selling, transferring, assigning, pledging, or hypothecating or in any manner acquiring an interest in a life insurance policy by means of a viatical settlement contract;

(3) Chronically ill means

(a) being unable to perform at least two activities of daily living, such as eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, or continence;

(b) requiring substantial supervision to protect the individual from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment; or

(c) having a level of disability similar to that described in subdivision (3)(a) of this section as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services;

(4) Department means the Department of Insurance;

(5) Director means the Director of Insurance;

(6) Financing entity means an underwriter, a placement agent, a lender, a purchaser of securities, a purchaser of a policy or certificate from a viatical settlement provider, a credit enhancer, or any entity that has a direct ownership in a policy or certificate that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract (a) whose principal activity related to the transaction is providing funds to effect the viatical settlement or purchase of one or more viaticated policies and (b) who has an agreement in writing with one or more licensed viatical settlement providers to finance the acquisition of viatical settlement contracts. Financing entity does not include a nonaccredited investor or viatical settlement purchaser;

(7) Fraudulent viatical settlement act means:

(a) An act or omission committed by any person who, knowingly and with intent to defraud and for the purpose of depriving another of property or for pecuniary gain, commits, or permits his or her employees or agents to commit, any of the following acts:

(i) Presenting, causing to be presented, or preparing with the knowledge or belief that it will be presented to or by a viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, viatical settlement purchaser, financing entity, insurer, insurance broker, insurance agent, or any other person, false material information, or concealing material information, as part of, in support of, or concerning a fact material to one or more of the following:

(A) An application for the issuance of a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy;

(B) The underwriting of a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy;

(C) A claim for payment or benefit pursuant to a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy;

(D) Premiums paid on an insurance policy;

(E) Payments and changes in ownership or beneficiary made in accordance with the terms of a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy;

(F) The reinstatement or conversion of an insurance policy;

(G) The solicitation, offer, effectuation, or sale of a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy;

(H) The issuance of written evidence of a viatical settlement contract or insurance; or

(I) A financing transaction; or

(ii) Employing any plan, financial structure, device, scheme, or artifice to defraud related to viaticated policies;

(b) In the furtherance of a fraud or to prevent the detection of a fraud:

(i) Removing, concealing, altering, destroying, or sequestering from the director the assets or records of a licensee or other person engaged in the business of viatical settlements;

(ii) Misrepresenting or concealing the financial condition of a licensee, financing entity, insurer, or other person;

(iii) Transacting the business of viatical settlements in violation of laws requiring a license, certificate of authority, or other legal authority for the transaction of the business of viatical settlements; or

(iv) Filing with the director or the chief insurance regulatory official of another jurisdiction a document containing false information or otherwise concealing information about a material fact from the director;

(c) Presenting, causing to be presented, or preparing with the knowledge or reason to believe that it will be presented, to or by a viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, insurer, insurance agent, financing entity, viatical settlement purchaser, or any other person, in connection with a viatical settlement transaction or insurance transaction, an insurance policy, knowing the policy was fraudulently obtained by the insured, owner, or any agent thereof;

(d) Embezzlement, theft, misappropriation, or conversion of money, funds, premiums, credits, or other property of a viatical settlement provider, insurer, insured, viator, insurance policyowner, or any other person engaged in the business of viatical settlements or insurance;

(e) Recklessly entering into, negotiating, brokering, or otherwise dealing in a viatical settlement contract, the subject of which is a life insurance policy that was obtained by presenting false information concerning any fact material to the policy or by concealing, for the purpose of misleading another, information concerning any fact material to the policy, if the person or persons intended to defraud the policy's issuer, the viatical settlement provider, or the viator. Recklessly means engaging in the conduct in conscious and clearly unjustifiable disregard of a substantial likelihood of the existence of the relevant facts or risks and such disregard involves a gross deviation from acceptable standards of conduct;

(f) Facilitating the change of state of ownership of a policy or certificate or the state of residency of a viator to a state or jurisdiction that does not have a law similar to the Viatical Settlements Act for the express purposes of evading or avoiding the provisions of the act; or

(g) Attempting to commit, assisting, aiding, or abetting in the commission of, or conspiring to commit the acts or omissions specified in this subdivision;

(8) Life insurance producer means any person licensed in this state as a resident or nonresident insurance producer who has received qualification or authority for life insurance coverage or a life line of coverage pursuant to subdivision (1)(a) of section 44-4054;

(9) Person means a natural person or a legal entity, including an individual, a partnership, a limited liability company, an association, a trust, or a corporation;

(10) Policy means an individual or group policy, group certificate, contract, or arrangement of life insurance owned by a resident of this state, regardless of whether delivered or issued for delivery in this state;

(11) Related provider trust means a titling trust or other trust established by a licensed viatical settlement provider or a financing entity for the sole purpose of holding the ownership or beneficial interest in purchased policies in connection with a financing transaction. The trust shall have a written agreement with the licensed viatical settlement provider under which the licensed viatical settlement provider is responsible for ensuring compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements and under which the trust agrees to make all records and files related to viatical settlement transactions available to the director as if those records and files were maintained directly by the licensed viatical settlement provider;

(12) Special purpose entity means a corporation, partnership, trust, limited liability company, or other similar entity formed solely to provide, either directly or indirectly, access to institutional capital markets:

(a) For a financing entity or licensed viatical settlement provider; or

(b)

(i) In connection with a transaction in which the securities in the special purpose entity are acquired by the viator or by qualified institutional buyers as defined in Rule 144A of the federal Securities Act of 1933, as such act existed on January 1, 2008; or

(ii) The securities pay a fixed rate of return commensurate with established asset-backed institutional capital markets;

(13) Terminally ill means having an illness or sickness that can reasonably be expected to result in death in twenty-four months or less;

(14) Viatical settlement broker means a person, including a life insurance producer as provided in subdivision (1)(b) of section 44-1103, who, working exclusively on behalf of a viator and for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, offers or attempts to negotiate viatical settlement contracts between a viator and one or more viatical settlement providers or one or more viatical settlement brokers. Notwithstanding the manner in which the viatical settlement broker is compensated, a viatical settlement broker is deemed to represent only the viator, and not the insurer or the viatical settlement provider, and owes a fiduciary duty to the viator to act according to the viator's instructions and in the best interest of the viator. Viatical settlement broker does not include an attorney, a certified public accountant, or a financial planner accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation agency who is retained to represent the viator and whose compensation is not paid directly or indirectly by the viatical settlement provider or purchaser;

(15)

(a) Viatical settlement contract means a written agreement between a viator and a viatical settlement provider or any affiliate of the viatical settlement provider establishing the terms under which compensation or anything of value will be paid, which compensation or value is less than the expected death benefit of the policy, in return for the viator's present or future assignment, transfer, sale, devise, or bequest of the death benefit or ownership or any portion of the insurance policy or certificate of insurance.

(b) Viatical settlement contract includes a premium finance loan made for a life insurance policy by a lender to a viator on, before, or after the date of issuance of the policy if:

(i) The viator or the insured receives on the date of the premium finance loan a guarantee of a future viatical settlement value of the policy; or

(ii) The viator or the insured agrees on the date of the premium finance loan to sell the policy or any portion of its death benefit on any date following the issuance of the policy.

(c) Viatical settlement contract does not include:

(i) A policy loan or accelerated death benefit made by the insurer pursuant to the policy's terms;

(ii) A loan, the proceeds of which are used solely to pay:

(A) Premiums for the policy; or

(B) The costs of the loan, including, without limitation, interest, arrangement fees, utilization fees and similar fees, closing costs, legal fees and expenses, trustee fees and expenses, and third-party collateral provider fees and expenses, including fees payable to letter-of-credit issuers;

(iii) A loan made by a bank or other licensed financial institution in which the lender takes an interest in a life insurance policy solely to secure repayment of a loan or, if there is a default on the loan and the policy is transferred, the transfer of such a policy by the lender, if the default itself is not pursuant to an agreement or understanding with any other person for the purpose of evading regulation under the Viatical Settlements Act;

(iv) A premium finance loan not described in subdivision (15)(b) of this section;

(v) An agreement where all the parties (A) are closely related to the insured by blood or law, (B) have a lawful substantial economic interest in the continued life, health, and bodily safety of the person insured, or (C) are trusts established primarily for the benefit of such parties;

(vi) Any designation, consent, or agreement by an insured who is an employee of an employer in connection with the purchase by the employer, or trust established by the employer, of life insurance on the life of the employee;

(vii) A bona fide business succession planning arrangement:

(A) Between one or more shareholders in a corporation or between a corporation and one or more of its shareholders or one or more trusts established by its shareholders;

(B) Between one or more partners in a partnership or between a partnership and one or more of its partners or one or more trusts established by its partners; or

(C) Between one or more members in a limited liability company or between a limited liability company and one or more of its members or one or more trusts established by its members;

(viii) An agreement entered into by a service recipient, or a trust established by the service recipient, and a service provider, or a trust established by the service provider, who performs significant services for the service recipient's trade or business; or

(ix) Any other contract, transaction, or arrangement exempted from the definition of viatical settlement contract by the director based on a determination that the contract, transaction, or arrangement is not of the type intended to be regulated under the act;

(16)

(a) Viatical settlement provider means a person, other than a viator, that enters into or effectuates a viatical settlement contract.

(b) Viatical settlement provider does not include:

(i) A bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union, or other licensed lending institution that takes an assignment of a life insurance policy solely as collateral for a loan;

(ii) A premium finance company making premium finance loans that takes an assignment of a life insurance policy solely as collateral for a loan;

(iii) The issuer of the life insurance policy;

(iv) An authorized or eligible insurer that provides stop-loss coverage or financial guaranty insurance to a viatical settlement provider, purchaser, financing entity, special purpose entity, or related provider trust;

(v) A natural person who enters into or effectuates no more than one agreement in a calendar year for the transfer of life insurance policies for any value less than the expected death benefit;

(vi) A financing entity;

(vii) A special purpose entity;

(viii) A related provider trust;

(ix) A viatical settlement purchaser; or

(x) Any other person that the director exempts from the definition of viatical settlement provider;

(17)

(a) Viatical settlement purchaser means a person who provides a sum of money as consideration for a life insurance policy or an interest in the death benefits of a life insurance policy, or a person who owns or acquires or is entitled to a beneficial interest in a trust that owns a viatical settlement contract or is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy that has been or will be the subject of a viatical settlement contract, for the purpose of deriving an economic benefit.

(b) Viatical settlement purchaser does not include:

(i) A licensee under the Viatical Settlements Act;

(ii) An accredited investor or qualified institutional buyer as defined respectively in Rule 501(a) or Rule 144A of the federal Securities Act of 1933, as the act existed on January 1, 2008;

(iii) A financing entity;

(iv) A special purpose entity; or

(v) A related provider trust;

(18) Viaticated policy means a life insurance policy or certificate that has been acquired by a viatical settlement provider pursuant to a viatical settlement contract; and

(19)

(a) Viator means the owner of a life insurance policy or a certificate holder under a group policy who resides in this state and who enters or seeks to enter into a viatical settlement contract. For purposes of the Viatical Settlements Act, a viator is not limited to an owner of a life insurance policy or a certificate holder under a group policy insuring the life of an individual with a terminal or chronic illness or condition except as specifically addressed. If there is more than one viator on a single policy and the viators are residents of different states, the transaction shall be governed by the law of the state in which the viator having the largest percentage ownership resides or, if the viators hold equal ownership, the state of residence of one of the viators agreed upon in writing by all the viators.

(b) Viator does not include:

(i) A licensee under the act;

(ii) A qualified institutional buyer as defined in Rule 144A of the federal Securities Act of 1933, as the act existed on January 1, 2008;

(iii) A financing entity;

(iv) A special purpose entity; or

(v) A related provider trust.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 44-1102

Laws 2001, LB 52, § 28; Laws 2007, LB296, § 179; Laws 2008, LB 853, § 2.