Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 50 - Tennessee Viatical Settlement Act of 2009

• 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 purchase or sell, assign, devise, bequest or transfer the death benefit or ownership of a life insurance policy or to purchase or sell, assign, devise, bequest or transfer the death benefit or ownership of a life insurance policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Beneficiary: means a person that has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Business of viatical settlements: means an activity involved in, but not limited to, the offering, soliciting, negotiating, procuring, effectuating, purchasing, investing, financing, monitoring, tracking, underwriting, selling, transferring, assigning, pledging, hypothecating or in any other manner acquiring an interest in a life insurance policy by means of a viatical settlement contract. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Charitable trust: means a trust, or portion of a trust, created for a charitable purpose described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Chronically ill: means :
  (A) Being unable to perform at least two (2) activities of daily living. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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 any entity that has a direct ownership in a policy or certificate that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract, but:
  (i) Whose principal activity related to the transaction is providing funds to effect the viatical settlement or purchase of one (1) or more viaticated policies. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• Foreign: when used without limitation, includes all companies formed by authority of any other state or government. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fraudulent viatical settlement act: means :
  (A) Acts or omissions committed by any person who, knowingly or with intent to defraud, for the purpose of depriving another of property or for pecuniary gain, commits or permits its employees or its agents to 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, viatical settlement broker, viatical settlement purchaser, viatical settlement investment agent, financing entity, insurer, insurance producer or any other person, false material information, or concealing material information, as part of, in support of or concerning a fact material to one (1) or more of the following:

  (a) An application for the issuance of a viatical settlement contract or insurance policy. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• insurance company: includes all corporations, associations, partnerships, or individuals engaged as principals in the business of insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Life insurance producer: means any person licensed in this state as a resident or nonresident insurance producer that has received qualification or authority for life insurance coverage or a life line of coverage pursuant to chapter 6, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Person: means a natural person or a legal entity, including, but not limited to, an individual, partnership, limited liability company, association, trust or corporation. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Personal representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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 Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Power of appointment: means :
  (A) An inter vivos or testamentary power to direct the disposition of trust property, other than a distribution decision made by a trustee or other fiduciary to a beneficiary. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Probate: Proving a will
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• 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, such disregard involving a gross deviation from acceptable standards of conduct. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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 purchased policies in connection with a financing transaction. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Settlor: means a person, including a testator, who creates, or contributes property to, a trust. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Special purpose entity: means a corporation, partnership, trust, limited liability company or other similar entity formed solely to provide, either directly or indirectly, access to institutional capital markets:
  (A) For a financing entity or licensed viatical settlement provider. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stranger-originated life insurance: means a practice or an act to initiate a life insurance policy for the benefit of a third-party investor who, at the time of policy origination, has no insurable interest in the insured. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Successors in interest: means the beneficiaries under the settlor's will, if the settlor has a will, or in the absence of an effective will provision, the settlor's heirs at law. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Terminally ill: means having an illness or sickness that can reasonably be expected to result in death in twenty-four (24) months or less. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Terms of a trust: means the manifestation of the settlor's intent regarding a trust's provisions as expressed in the trust instrument or as may be established by other evidence that would be admissible in a judicial proceeding. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• This state: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trust advisor: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trust instrument: means an instrument executed by the settlor that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trust protector: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Viatical settlement broker: means a person, including a life insurance producer, as provided for in §. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viatical settlement contract: includes a premium finance loan made for a life insurance policy by a lender to a viator on, before or after the date of issuance of the policy where:
  (i) The viator or the insured receives on the date of the premium finance loan a guarantee of a future viatical settlement value of the policy. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viatical settlement investment agent: means a person who is an appointed or contracted agent of a licensed viatical settlement provider who solicits or arranges the funding for the purchase of a viatical settlement by a viatical settlement purchaser and who is acting on behalf of a viatical settlement provider. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viatical settlement provider: means a person, other than a viator, that enters into or effectuates a viatical settlement contract with a viator resident in this state. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viatical settlement purchase agreement: means a contract or agreement, entered into by a viatical settlement purchaser, to which the viator is not a party, to purchase a life insurance policy or an interest in a life insurance policy that is entered into for the purpose of deriving an economic benefit. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viatical settlement purchaser: means a person who provides a sum of money as consideration for a life insurance policy or an interest in the death benefits of a life insurance policy, or a person who owns or acquires or is entitled to a beneficial interest in a trust that owns a viatical settlement contract or is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy that has been or will be the subject of a viatical settlement contract, for the purpose of deriving an economic benefit. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• Viaticated policy: means a life insurance policy or certificate that has been acquired by a viatical settlement provider pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• viator: includes , but is not limited to, an owner of a life insurance policy or a certificate holder under a group policy insuring the life of an individual with a terminal or chronic illness or condition except where specifically addressed. See Tennessee Code 56-50-102
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105