Chapter 58

No assessment life insurance corporation, organization or association of any kind issuing policies or contracts upon the life of any resident of this State shall hereafter be organized or licensed by the Commissioner unless such corporation, organization or association adopt prem…

Every life insurance company doing business in this State upon the principle of mutual insurance, or the members of which are entitled to share in the surplus funds thereof, may distribute the surplus annually, or once in two, three, four, or five years, as its directors determin…

No policy of group life insurance shall be delivered in this State unless it conforms to one of the following descriptions: (1) A policy issued to an employer, or to the trustee of a fund established by an employer, which employer or trustee shall be deemed the policyholder, to i…

No policy of group life insurance shall be delivered in this State unless it contains in substance the following provisions, or provisions which in the Commissioner's opinion are more favorable to the persons insured, or at least as favorable to the persons insured and more favor…

(a) Definition. - For purposes of this section, "portability" means the prerogative to continue existing group life insurance coverage, or access alternate group life insurance coverage, that may be provided by a group life insurance policy to an individual insured after the indi…

(a) Any policy or contract, except a joint, reversionary or survivorship annuity contract, whereby annuities are payable to more than one person, is a group annuity contract. The person, firm or corporation to whom or to which the contract is issued, is the holder of the contract…

(a) Each individual (nongroup) annuity contract shall be issued only upon application of the annuitant or proposed owner. Any application form, whether paper or electronic, is subject to G.S. 58-3-150, and if taken by an agent, broker, or other producer shall include the certific…

No authorized insurer shall deliver or issue for delivery in this State any deferred annuity contract that contains a provision that reduces the death benefit of the contract by a surrender fee when death occurs during the surrender period. (2007-298, s. 1.2.)

No life insurance company shall hereafter deliver in this State, as a part of or in combination with any insurance, endowment or annuity contract, any agreement or plan, additional to the rights, dividends, and benefits arising out of any such insurance, endowment or annuity cont…

Employee life insurance is hereby declared to be that plan of life insurance other than salary savings life insurance under which individual policies are issued to the employees of any employer where such policies are issued on the life of more than one employee at date of issue.…

Any individual insured under a group insurance policy or group annuity contract shall have the right, unless expressly prohibited under the terms of the policy or contract of insurance, to assign to any other person his rights and benefits under the policy or contract, including,…

In every group policy issued by a domestic life insurance company, the employer shall be deemed to be the policyholder for all purposes within the meaning of Articles 1 through 64 of this Chapter, and, if entitled to vote at meetings of the company, shall be entitled to one vote …

No policy of group insurance, nor the proceeds thereof, when paid to any employee or employees thereunder, shall be liable to attachment, garnishment, or other process, or to be seized, taken, appropriated or applied by any legal or equitable process or operation of law, to pay a…

A reinstated policy of life insurance or annuity contract may be contested on account of fraud or misrepresentation of facts material to the reinstatement only for the same period following reinstatement and with the same conditions and exceptions as the policy provides with resp…

No life insurance company shall hereafter deliver in this State, as a part of or in combination with any insurance, endowment or annuity contract, any agreement or plan, additional to the rights, dividends, and benefits arising out of any such insurance, endowment, or annuity con…

This Part may be cited as the Viatical Settlements Act. (2001-436, s. 3.)

As used in this Article: (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 filmstrips, motion picture…

(a) No person shall operate as a provider or broker without first obtaining a license from the insurance regulator of the state of residence of the viator. If there is more than one viator on a single policy and the viators are residents of different states, the viatical settleme…

The Commissioner may suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue or renew the license of a provider or broker if the Commissioner finds that: (1) There was any material misrepresentation in the application for the license; (2) The licensee or any officer, partner, member, or key manageme…

No policy of individual life insurance shall be delivered in this State unless it contains in substance the following provisions, or provisions that in the Commissioner's opinion are more favorable to the person insured: (1) Grace period. - A provision that the insured is entitle…

A person shall not use a contract or provide to a viator a disclosure statement form in this State unless filed with and approved by the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall disapprove a contract form or disclosure statement form if, in the Commissioner's opinion, the contract or…

(a) Each licensee shall file with the Commissioner on or before June 1 of each year an annual statement containing such information as the Commissioner prescribes by administrative rule. (b) Except as otherwise allowed or required by law, a provider, broker, insurance company, in…

No annuity or pure endowment contract, except a reversionary or survivorship annuity and except a group annuity contract, shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this State unless it contains in substance the following provisions or provisions that in the opinion of the Comm…

(a) The Commissioner may conduct an examination of a licensee as often as the Commissioner considers appropriate. (b) An examination under this Part shall be conducted in accordance with the Examination Law. (c) In lieu of an examination of any foreign or alien person licensed un…

(a) A person licensed under this Part shall retain copies for five years of all: (1) Proposed, offered, or executed contracts, purchase agreements, underwriting documents, policy forms, and applications from the date of the proposal, offer, or execution of the contract or purchas…

The Commissioner may investigate suspected fraudulent viatical settlement acts and persons engaged in the business of viatical settlements. (2001-436, s. 3.)

(a) With each application for a viatical settlement, the provider or broker shall provide the viator with at least the following disclosures no later than the time the application for the contract is signed by all parties. The disclosures shall be provided in a separate document …

No insurance company licensed in this State pursuant to the provisions of Articles 1 through 64 of this Chapter shall refuse to issue or deliver any policy of life insurance authorized thereunder solely by reason of the fact that the person to be insured possesses sickle cell tra…

(a) A provider entering into a contract shall first obtain: (1) If the viator is the insured, a written statement from a licensed attending physician that the viator is of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence to enter into a contract. (2) A document in which the …

(a) It is a violation of this Part for any person to enter into a contract within a two-year period commencing with the date of issuance of the policy unless the viator certifies to the provider that one or more of the following conditions have been met within the two-year period…

(a) The purpose of this section is to provide prospective viators with clear and unambiguous statements in the advertisement of viatical settlements and to assure the clear, truthful, and adequate disclosure of the benefits, risks, limitations, and exclusions of any contract. Thi…

(a) A person who commits a fraudulent viatical settlement act is guilty of a Class H felony. (b) A person shall not knowingly or intentionally interfere with the enforcement of the provisions of this Part or investigations of suspected or actual violations of this Part. (c) A per…

(a) Viatical settlement contracts and purchase agreement forms and applications for viatical settlements, regardless of the form of transmission, shall contain the following statement or a substantially similar statement: "Any person who knowingly presents false information in an…

(a) Viatical settlement providers and viatical settlement brokers shall have in place antifraud initiatives reasonably calculated to detect, prosecute, and prevent fraudulent viatical settlement acts. At the discretion of the Commissioner, the Commissioner may order, or a license…

Whenever any person licensed under this Part knows or has reasonable cause to believe that any other person has violated any provision of this Part, it is the duty of that person, upon acquiring the knowledge, to notify the Commissioner and provide the Commissioner with a complet…

(a) As used in this section, "Commissioner" includes an employee, agent, or designee of the Commissioner. A person, or an employee or agent of that person, acting without actual malice, is not subject to civil liability for libel, slander, or any other cause of action by virtue o…

(a) Information and evidence provided under G.S. 58-58-270 or G.S. 58-58-275 or obtained by the Commissioner in an investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent viatical settlement acts shall be privileged and confidential, is not a public record, and is not subject to discover…

This Part does not: (1) Preempt the authority or relieve the duty of other law enforcement or regulatory agencies to investigate, examine, and prosecute suspected violations of law. (2) Prevent or prohibit a person from disclosing voluntarily information concerning viatical settl…

(a) In addition to the penalties and other enforcement provisions of this Part, if any person violates this Part or any rule implementing this Part, the Commissioner may seek an injunction in a court of competent jurisdiction and may apply for temporary and permanent orders that …

A violation of this Part is an unfair trade practice under Article 63 of this Chapter. (2001-436, s. 3.)

A person who solicits an application for insurance upon the life of another, in any controversy relating thereto between the insured or his beneficiary and the company issuing a policy upon such application, is the agent of the company and not of the insured. (1907, c. 958, s. 1;…

The Commissioner may: (1) Adopt rules implementing this Part. (2) Establish standards for evaluating reasonableness of payments under contracts for persons who are terminally or chronically ill, including standards for the amount paid in exchange for assignment, transfer, sale, o…

Nothing in this Part affects the North Carolina Securities Act or the jurisdiction of the North Carolina Secretary of State. (2001-436, s. 3.)

A provider or broker transacting business in this State, pursuant to G.S. 58-58-42, on the effective date of this Part may continue to do so pending approval of the provider's or broker's application for a license as long as the application is filed with the Commissioner no later…

(a) The purpose of this Part is to set forth standards to protect service members of the Armed Forces from dishonest and predatory insurance sales practices by declaring certain identified practices to be false, misleading, deceptive, or unfair. (b) Nothing in this Part shall be …

This Part applies only to the solicitation or sale of any life insurance or annuity product by an insurer or insurance producer to an active duty service member of the Armed Forces. (2007-535, s. 1; 2011-183, s. 44.)

(a) This Part does not apply to solicitations or sales involving any of the following: (1) Credit insurance. (2) Group life insurance or group annuities where there is no in-person, face-to-face solicitation of individuals by an insurance producer or where the contract or certifi…

As used in this Part: (1) "Active duty" means full-time duty in the active military service of the United States and includes service by members of the reserve component (National Guard and Reserve) while serving under published orders for active duty or full-time training. "Acti…

(a) The following acts or practices when committed on a military installation by an insurer or insurance producer with respect to the in-person, face-to-face solicitation of life insurance are declared to be false, misleading, deceptive, or unfair: (1) Knowingly soliciting the pu…

(a) The following acts or practices by an insurer or insurance producer constitute corrupt practices, improper influences or inducements and are declared to be false, misleading, deceptive, or unfair: (1) Submitting, processing, or assisting in the submission or processing of any…