Definition of "Tontine"
Early life insurance that provided benefits only to survivors who lived to the end of a certain period of time. In the mid-17th century, Lorenzo Tonti, an Italian, devised a scheme to raise money for the French government of Louis XIV. It involved a state lottery in which the oldest survivor would collect the pot. One woman, age 96, hit the jackpot shortly before her death. Tontine policies were introduced in the U.S. in the 1860s, but condemned in the Armstrong investigation in 1905 in New York State and subsequently outlawed everywhere 45 years later.
Popular Insurance Terms
Replacement for the earlier Family Automobile Policy (FAP) with these nine basic coverages: Coverage A Liability, The company pays damages for which an insured becomes legally obligated ...
Same as term Dividend Addition: option in a participating policy under which dividends are used to purchase fully paid-up units of whole life insurance. This option deserves careful ...
Ratio of authorized control level risk-based capital of an insurance company to its total adjusted capital. This statistic determines regulatory action taken by the state's insurance ...
Modified endowment insurance policy under which the insured receives one-half the death benefit as the maturity value of the policy. ...
Specified requirements of minimum age and years of service to be met by an employee before the individual's benefits are vested. For example, under the ten year vesting rule, "n employee ...
Exchange of a new policy for one already in force. ...
Court-appointed or commissioner of insurance-appointed custodian to manage the affairs of an insurance company whose management is deemed unable to manage that company in a proper fashion. ...
Form of marine insurance that covers mobile equipment of a contractor, including road building machinery, steam shovels, hoists, and derricks used on the job by builders of structures, ...
Same as term Basic Limit of Liability: required minimum amounts of coverage that an insurance company will underwrite. For example, for auto liability coverage the minimum that many ...
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