(a)  The Commissioner may:

(1)  Promulgate regulations implementing this chapter and regulating the activities and relationships of providers, brokers, insurers and their agents, subject to statutory limitations on administrative rule making.

(2)  Provide by regulation that the commissioner is authorized and may in his or her discretion recover the reasonable cost of legal services incurred by the department in enforcement actions under this chapter either from the licensee against whom the action is taken or by way of an assessment of all providers licensed pursuant to § 27-72-3(a). The assessment formula shall be set by regulation based upon information provided in the prior years annual statement filed pursuant to § 27-72-3( l ).

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-12

  • Commissioner: means the director of the department of business regulation or his or her designee. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
  • Insured: means the person covered under the policy being considered for sale in a life settlement contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Life settlement contract: means a written agreement entered into between a provider and an owner, establishing the terms under which compensation or any thing of value will be paid, which compensation or thing of value is less than the expected death benefit of the insurance policy or certificate, in return for the owner's assignment, transfer, sale, devise or bequest of the death benefit or any portion of an insurance policy or certificate of insurance for compensation; provided, however, that the minimum value for a life settlement contract shall be greater than a cash surrender value or accelerated death benefit available at the time of an application for a life settlement contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Owner: means the owner of a life insurance policy or a certificate holder under a group policy, with or without a terminal illness, who enters or seeks to enter into a life settlement contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Policy: means an individual or group policy, group certificate, contract or arrangement of life insurance owned by a resident of this state, regardless of whether delivered or issued for delivery in this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Provider: means a person, other than an owner, who enters into or effectuates a life settlement contract with an owner, a provider does not include:

    (i)  Any bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union;

    (ii)  A licensed lending institution or creditor or secured party pursuant to a premium finance loan agreement which takes an assignment of a life insurance policy or certificate issued pursuant to a group life insurance policy as collateral for a loan;

    (iii)  The insurer of a life insurance policy or rider to the extent of providing accelerated death benefits or riders or cash surrender value;

    (iv)  Any natural person who enters into or effectuates no more than one agreement in a calendar year for the transfer of a life insurance policy or certificate issued pursuant to a group life insurance policy, for compensation or anything of value less than the expected death benefit payable under the policy;

    (v)  A purchaser;

    (vi)  Any authorized or eligible insurer that provides stop loss coverage to a provider; purchaser, financing entity, special purpose entity, or related provider trust;

    (vii)  A financing entity;

    (viii)  A special purpose entity;

    (ix)  A related provider trust;

    (x)  A broker; or

    (xi)  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 life settlement policy from a provider. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2

  • Purchaser: means a person who pays compensation or anything of value as consideration for a beneficial interest in a trust which is vested with, or for the assignment, transfer or sale of, an ownership or other interest in a life insurance policy or a certificate issued pursuant to a group life insurance policy which has been the subject of a life settlement contract. See Rhode Island General Laws 27-72-2
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.

(b) Conflict of laws.

(1)  If there is more than one owner on a single policy, and the owners are residents of different states, the life settlement contract 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 of the owners. The law of the state of the insured shall govern in the event that equal owners fail to agree in writing upon a state of residence for jurisdictional purposes.

(2)  A provider from this state who enters into a life settlement contract with an owner who is a resident of another state that has enacted statutes or adopted regulations governing life settlement contracts, shall be governed in the effectuation of that life settlement contract by the statutes and regulations of the owner’s state of residence. If the state in which the owner is a resident has not enacted statutes or regulations governing life settlement contracts, the provider shall give the owner notice that neither state regulates the transaction upon which he or she is entering. For transactions in those states, however, the provider is to maintain all records required as if the transactions were executed in the state of residence. The forms used in those states need not be approved by the department.

(3)  If there is a conflict in the laws that apply to an owner and a purchaser in any individual transaction, the laws of the state that apply to the owner shall take precedence and the provider shall comply with those laws.

History of Section.
P.L. 2009, ch. 195, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 262, § 1.