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
Value of benefit or contribution allocated to an employee under a pension plan; method of determining benefits due a retired employee. Each private pension plan establishes rules for ...
cost of annuity based on expectation of life of the annuitant and the expense and profit loadings of the insurance company. ...
Arrangement, often funded by life insurance, to continue an employee's salary in the form of payments to a beneficiary for a certain period after the employee's death. The employer itself ...
Formula for a given line of insurance used by property and casualty insurance companies to compare losses and loss adjustment expense with premiums. This shows the amount of each premium ...
Amount that the owner of a life insurance policy can borrow at interest from the insurer, up to the cash surrender value. If interest is not paid when due, it is deducted from any remaining ...
Agent with the authority from an insurance company to prepare and to place into business an insurance policy. ...
Expense of recovering property by a salvor. Salvage charges are not provided for in insurance contracts. If the owner and the salvor cannot agree on salvage charges, a court makes a ...
Same as term Calendar Year Experience: paid loss experience for the period of time from January 1 to December 31 of a specified year (not necessarily the current year). ...
Deliberate act or omission. These torts include trespass an individual enters property owned or in the possession of another without permission; conversion an individual exerts control and ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.