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
Total of the insurance company's mortgages whose interest has not been paid for at least three months. These are mortgages upon which the insurance company is in the process of foreclosing, ...
Coverage for an insured's liability for damage to another's property from leakage or overflow of water. Some liability policies specifically exclude water damage, including that caused by ...
Ruling that, under current tax law, an insurance company that has incurred a net income loss in a given year may charge that loss against its taxable income in a subsequent year. This ...
Correction of a contract containing a mistake in order to prevent a party to that contract from gaining from that mistake. For example, if $1,000,000, instead of the correct amount of ...
Organization of home service debit life insurance companies and combination companies. ...
Group of plans (to include section 401(k) plans and section 403(b) plans) that permit in-service withdrawals to fund a college education if a hardship exists. ...
Coverage under which the face value, premiums, and plan of insurance can be changed at the discretion of the policy owner in the following manner, without additional policies being issued: ...
Premium paid by an insured business to an insurance company from which the company subtracts charges for the cost of putting a policy on its books, premium taxes, and profit. The remainder ...
Coverage usually written as an endorsement to property policies such as the Standard Fire Policy. A loss must be by the intentional acts of vandals. This peril is of particular importance ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.