Split Dollar Life Insurance
Definition of "Split dollar life insurance"
Policy in which premiums, ownership rights, and death proceeds are split between an employer and an employee, or between a parent and a child. The employer pays the part of each year's premium that at least equals the increase in the cash value. The employee may pay the remainder of the premium, or the employer may pay the entire premium. When the increase in cash value equals or exceeds the yearly premium, the employer pays the entire premium. If the employee dies while in the service of the employer, a beneficiary chosen by the employee receives the difference between the face value and the amount paid to the employer (the cash value or the total of all premiums paid by the employer- whichever is greater). Thus, during employment, the employee's share of the death benefit decreases. If the employee leaves the employer, the latter has the option of surrendering the policy in exchange for return of all premiums, or selling the policy to the employee for the amount of its cash value. There are two types of split dollar life insurance policies: Endorsement-the employer owns all policy privileges; the employee's only rights are to choose beneficiaries and to select the manner in which the death benefit is paid. Collateral-the employee owns the policy. The employer's contributions toward the premiums are viewed as a series of interest-free loans, which equal the yearly increase in the cash value of the policy. The employee assigns the policy to the employer as collateral for these loans. When the employee dies, the loans are paid from the face value of the policy. Any remaining proceeds are paid to the beneficiary.
Popular Insurance Terms
Organization having as its objective the education of the general public concerning items of national concern of member property and casualty insurance companies. ...
Management of investment risks associated with business risk, interest rate risk, political risk, and purchasing power risk. Usually fixed income financial instruments, such as fixed dollar ...
Fixed or stated amount of interest paid by a security expressed as a percent of the par value of the security. The longer the length of time until maturity, the higher the coupon rate to ...
Modified premium used to calculate cash surrender values in excess of that required by the naic: standard NON FORFEITURE LAW. ...
Amount added to the basic premium (expectation of loss) to cover an insurance company's expenses. These expenses include agent commissions, premium taxes, costs of putting a policy on the ...
Bonds sold at a discount from their face value; accumulated interest paid at maturity, as in the case of zero coupon bonds. Interest rate minimum is guaranteed with the prevailing interest ...
Transfer of high severity risks through the insurance contract to protect against catastrophic occurrences. While insurance is generally not the most cost-effective means of recovery of ...
Land and attached structures. Interest in real estate can be protected through various insurance policies. ...
Subtraction of a number of years from a standard table of life insurance rates under the assumption that a particular group-women-outlive men and presumably will be paying premiums for a ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.