2017 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 10 - Insurance
Life Insurance
Article 7 - Life Insurance
Part 6 - Viatical Settlements
§ 10-7-602. Definitions

As used in this part 6, unless the context otherwise requires:

(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 film strips, motion pictures, and videos, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed directly before the public in this state for the purpose of creating an interest in or inducing a person to sell, assign, devise, bequest, or transfer the death benefit or ownership of a policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract.

(2) "Business of viatical settlements" means an activity that involves, but is not necessarily limited to, the offering, solicitation, negotiation, procurement, effectuation, purchasing, investing, financing, monitoring, tracking, underwriting, selling, transferring, assigning, pledging, or hypothecating of viatical settlement contracts.

(3) "Chronically ill", with reference to an individual, means that the individual:

(a) Suffers from a disease or disability that prevents the individual from independently performing two or more routine but necessary activities of daily living, which activities include, without limitation, eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, or continence;

(b) Requires substantial supervision to protect the individual from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment; or

(c) Has a level of disability similar to that described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (3), as determined by the federal department of health and human services.

(4) (a) "Financing entity" means an underwriter, placement agent, lender, purchaser of securities, purchaser of a policy or certificate from a viatical settlement provider, credit enhancer, or entity that has a direct ownership in a policy that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract, and:

(I) Whose principal activity related to the transaction is providing funds to effect the viatical settlement or purchase of one or more viaticated policies; and

(II) Who has an agreement in writing with one or more licensed viatical settlement providers to finance the acquisition of viatical settlement contracts or to provide stop-loss insurance.

(b) "Financing entity" does not include a nonaccredited investor.

(5) "Fraudulent viatical settlement act" includes:

(a) An act or omission by a person who, knowingly or with intent to defraud, for the purpose of depriving another of property or for pecuniary gain, commits or engages in, or permits its employees or agents to commit or engage in, acts including:

(I) Presenting, causing to be presented, or preparing with knowledge or belief that it will be presented to or by a viatical settlement provider, financing entity, insurer, insurance producer, or other person, false material information, or concealing material information, as part of, in support of, or concerning a fact material to one or more of the following:

(A) An application for the issuance of a viatical settlement contract or policy;

(B) The underwriting of a viatical settlement contract or policy;

(C) A claim for payment or benefit pursuant to a viatical settlement contract or policy;

(D) Premiums paid on a policy;

(E) Payments and changes in ownership or beneficiary made in accordance with the terms of a viatical settlement contract or policy;

(F) The reinstatement or conversion of a policy;

(G) The solicitation, offer, effectuation, or sale of a viatical settlement contract or policy;

(H) The issuance of written evidence of a viatical settlement contract or policy; or

(I) A financing transaction;

(II) Employing any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud related to viaticated policies;

(b) In the furtherance of a fraud or to prevent the detection of a fraud a person commits or permits its employees or agents to:

(I) Remove, conceal, alter, destroy, or sequester from the commissioner the assets or records of a licensee or other person engaged in the business of viatical settlements;

(II) Misrepresent or conceal the financial condition of a licensee, financing entity, insurer, or other person;

(III) Transact the business of viatical settlements in violation of laws requiring a license, certificate of authority, or other legal authority for the transaction of the business of viatical settlements; or

(IV) File with the commissioner or the chief insurance regulatory official of another jurisdiction a document containing false information or otherwise conceal information about a material fact from the commissioner;

(c) Embezzlement, theft, misappropriation, or conversion of moneys, funds, premiums, credits, or other property of a viatical settlement provider, life insurance producer, insurer, insured, viator, policyowner, or other person engaged in the business of viatical settlements or insurance;

(d) Recklessly entering into, negotiating, or otherwise dealing in a viatical settlement contract, the subject of which is a policy that was obtained by presenting false information concerning a fact material to the policy, or by concealing, for the purpose of misleading another, information concerning a fact material to the policy, where the viator or the viator's agent intended to defraud the insurance company that issued the policy. "Recklessly" means engaging in the conduct in conscious and clearly unjustifiable disregard of a substantial likelihood of the existence of the relevant facts or risks, when such disregard involves a gross deviation from acceptable standards of conduct.

(e) Attempting to commit, assist, aid or abet in the commission of, or conspiracy to commit, the acts or omissions specified in this subsection (5).

(6) "Life insurance producer" means a person licensed as a resident or nonresident insurance producer pursuant to article 2 of this title who has received qualification for life insurance coverage or a life line of coverage pursuant to section 10-2-407 (1)(a).

(7) "NAIC" means the national association of insurance commissioners or any analogous successor organization.

(8) "Person" means a natural person or a legal entity including, but not limited to, an individual, partnership, limited liability company, association, trust, or corporation.

(9) "Policy" means an individual or group policy, group certificate, contract, or arrangement of life insurance affecting the rights of a resident of this state or bearing a reasonable relation to this state, regardless of whether delivered or issued for delivery in this state.

(10) "Related provider trust" means a titling trust or other trust established by a licensed viatical settlement provider or a financing entity for the sole purpose of holding the ownership or beneficial interest in viaticated policies in connection with a financing transaction. The trust shall have a written agreement with the licensed viatical settlement provider under which the licensed viatical settlement provider is responsible for ensuring compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements and under which the trust agrees to make all records and files related to viatical settlement transactions available to the commissioner as if those records and files were maintained directly by the licensed viatical settlement provider.

(11) "Special purpose entity" means a corporation, partnership, trust, limited liability company, or other similar entity formed only to provide, either directly or indirectly, access to institutional capital markets for a financing entity or licensed viatical settlement provider.

(12) "Terminally ill" means having an illness or sickness that is reasonably expected to result in death in twenty-four months or less.

(13) "Viatical settlement contract" means a written agreement establishing the terms under which compensation or anything of value is paid, which compensation or value is less than the expected death benefit of the policy, in return for the viator's assignment, transfer, sale, devise, or bequest of the death benefit or ownership of any portion of the policy. "Viatical settlement contract" includes a contract for a loan or other financing transaction with a viator secured primarily by an individual or group life insurance policy, other than a loan by a life insurance company pursuant to the terms of the policy, or a loan secured by the cash value of a policy. "Viatical settlement contract" also includes an agreement with a viator to transfer ownership or change the beneficiary designation at a later date regardless of the date that compensation is paid to the viator. "Viatical settlement contract" does not mean a written agreement entered into between a viator and a person having an insurable interest in the insured's life.

(14) "Viatical settlement provider" means a person, other than a viator, who enters into or effectuates a viatical settlement contract. "Viatical settlement provider" does not include:

(a) A bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union, or other licensed lending institution that takes an assignment of a policy as collateral for a loan;

(b) The issuer of a policy providing accelerated benefits pursuant to the policy;

(c) An authorized or eligible insurer that provides stop-loss coverage to a viatical settlement provider, financing entity, special purpose entity, or related provider trust;

(d) A natural person who enters into or effectuates no more than one agreement in a calendar year for the transfer of policies for any value less than the expected death benefit;

(e) A financing entity;

(f) A special purpose entity;

(g) A related provider trust; or

(h) An accredited investor or qualified institutional buyer as defined, respectively, in regulation D, rule 501, or rule 144A of the federal "Securities Act of 1933", as amended, who purchases a viaticated policy from a viatical settlement provider.

(15) "Viaticated policy" means a policy that has been acquired by a viatical settlement provider pursuant to a viatical settlement contract.

(16) "Viator" means the owner of a policy who is a resident of this state and who enters or seeks to enter into a viatical settlement contract. For the purposes of this part 6, a viator is not limited to an owner of a policy insuring the life of an individual with a terminal or chronic illness or condition except where specifically addressed. If there is more than one owner on a single policy and the owners are residents of different states, the transaction shall be governed by the law of the state in which the owner having the largest percentage ownership resides or, if the owners hold equal ownership, the state of residence of one owner agreed upon in writing by all owners. "Viator" does not include:

(a) A licensee as provided by this part 6, including a life insurance producer;

(b) An accredited investor or qualified institutional buyer as defined, respectively, in regulation D, rule 501, or rule 144A of the federal "Securities Act of 1933", as amended;

(c) A financing entity;

(d) A special purpose entity; or

(e) A related provider trust.