Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 38.2 > Chapter 31 - Life Insurance

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuities: means all agreements to make periodic payments in specified or calculable sums pursuant to the terms of a contract for a stated period of time or for the life of the person or persons specified in the contract. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• 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.
• annuity: shall be deemed to include "variable annuity" and "modified guaranteed annuity" and shall be deemed to include a contract under which a lump sum cash settlement is an alternative to the option of periodic payments. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Articles of trust: includes the original articles of trust, the original certificate of trust issued by the Commission, and all amendments to the articles of trust. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means an authority created under the provisions of § 15. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficial owner: means any owner of a beneficial interest in a business trust, the fact of ownership to be determined and evidenced, whether by means of registration, the issuance of certificates or otherwise, in conformity to the applicable provisions of the governing instrument of the business trust. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201
• 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}
• business of insurance: include solicitation, negotiations preliminary to execution, execution of an insurance contract, and the transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the contract and arising out of it. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Business trust: includes , without limitation, any of the following entities that conform with subdivisions 1 and 2 of this definition:

  (1) A trust of the type known at common law as a "business trust" or "Massachusetts trust";

  (2) A trust qualifying as a real estate mortgage investment conduit under § 860 D of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or under any successor provision;

  (3) A trust qualifying as a real estate investment trust under §§ 856 through 859 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or under any successor provision; or

  (4) A "real estate investment trust" or "trust" created under former Chapter 9 of Title 6 or former Chapter 9 of Title 6. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201

• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Contingent beneficiary: Receiver of property or benefits if the first named beneficiary fails to receive any or all of the property or benefits in question before his (her) death.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Governing instrument: means a trust instrument that creates a business trust and provides for the governance of the affairs of the business trust and the conduct of its business, including, without limitation, a declaration of trust. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Insurance company: means any company engaged in the business of making contracts of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• insurance policies: shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and suretyship. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Insurer: means an insurance company licensed in the Commonwealth that offers retained asset accounts for death benefits. See Virginia Code 38.2-3117.1
• Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Life insurance: includes policies that also provide (i) endowment benefits; (ii) additional benefits incidental to a loss in the event of death, dismemberment, or loss by accident or accidental means; (iii) additional benefits to safeguard the contract from lapse or to provide a special surrender value, a special benefit or an annuity, in the event of total and permanent disability of the insured; and (iv) optional modes of settlement of proceeds. See Virginia Code 38.2-102
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Owner: includes persons, federal agencies, and units of the Commonwealth having any title or interest in any system, or the services or facilities to be rendered thereby. See Virginia Code 15.2-5101
• Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Policy: means any policy or certificate of insurance that provides a death benefit. See Virginia Code 38.2-3117.1
• Probate: Proving a will
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• rates: means any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Retained asset account: means any mechanism whereby the settlement of proceeds payable under a life insurance policy is accomplished by the insurer or an entity acting on behalf of the insurer depositing the proceeds into an account with check or draft writing privileges where those proceeds are retained by the insurer pursuant to a supplementary contract not involving annuity benefits. See Virginia Code 38.2-3117.1
• 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.
• State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Trust: includes a common law trust, business trust, and foreign business trust. See Virginia Code 13.1-1201
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.