Sole Proprietor Life And Health Insurance

Definition of "Sole proprietor life and health insurance"

Coverage for the owner of a business. When a proprietor dies, debts of the business become the debts of the estate since in this circumstance the law recognizes business and personal assets as one. The executor is required to dispose of the business as quickly as possible. Life insurance can fund the disposition in several ways:

  1. If the business is transferred through a will, the life insurance's death benefit can be applied to the deceased proprietor's personal and business debts and estate taxes.
  2. If the executor conducts a forced sale or liquidation, a death benefit can be used to reduce or eliminate any debts. The death benefit can also be used as a source of working capital for interim financing to operate the business in the short run.
  3. If the business is to be transferred to a child or employee, the death benefit can provide funds to effect the transfer.
  4. If the business is to be sold to a key employee (s) through a buy-and-sell agreement, the key employee (s) usually has previously bought a life insurance policy on the sole proprietor and made all premium payments. The buy-and-sell agreement stipulates the formula to be used in valuing the business as well as other conditions of the sale. Upon the death of the proprietor and the sale of the business to the key employee (s), the proprietor's estate receives the cash amount according to the buy-and-sell agreement, and the key employee (s) receives the deceased proprietor's business.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Legal status giving an insurance company all rights to an insured's property. The abandonment clause is usually found in marine insurance and not in other property insurance policies such ...

Investment risk associated with the psychology of the market in that emotions affect the price of a company's stock that, in most instances, has nothing to do with the current or potential ...

Same as term Maximum Foreseeable Loss: worst case scenario under which an estimate is made of the maximum dollar amount that can be lost if a catastrophe occurs such as a hurricane or ...

Same as term Fortuitous Loss: loss occurring by accident or chance, not by anyone's intention. Insurance policies provide coverage against losses that occur only on a chance basis, where ...

Rating method for commercial fire insurance according to a predetermined schedule. Published by A. F. Dean in 1902, this method was the first comprehensive qualitative analysis procedure to ...

Coverage for an advertiser's negligent acts and/or omissions in advertising (both oral and written) that may result in a civil suit for libel, slander, defamation of character, or copyright ...

Coverage when business records are destroyed by an insured peril and the business cannot collect money owed. The policy covers these uncollectible sums plus the expense of record ...

Fronted program by the insured acquires a licensed insurance company to issue insurance policies. ...

Percentage of total assets set aside by an insurance company to provide for unexpected losses. In general, a minimum of a 5% surplus ratio (5 cents in reserve for each $1 of assets) is ...

Popular Insurance Questions