Guaranteed universal life takes the market risk out of life insurance, but it adds additional risks that sit squarely with the TOLI trustee. For all GUL policies you take in, you should understand all of the policy nuances
What is most important when determining the liability of a trustee’s actions? Over the years, we have noticed that the knowledge of TOLI trustees varies from trust company to trust company. After publishing the TOLI Handbook, we thought we would “chunk it down” with the TOLI Challenge—a series of questions designed to test the knowledge of the typical TOLI trustee. We will be publishing questions [...]
Why Now Is the Time to Consider Alternatives for Your Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) Presenters: Leon Wessels, Life Insurance Trust Company, John Barkhurst, ITM TwentyFirst For most institutions in 2021, life insurance trusts are not core to their trust business. With the regulatory, reputational, and legal risks ever increasing, many corporate trustees are currently rethinking their ILIT services, contemplating other alternatives. This webinar [...]
Millions of businesses worldwide have drafted or purchased business continuity plans, some have even practiced or simulated implementation of said plans, but few ever dreamed a worldwide pandemic would force these plans into action. The rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus has impacted all of humanity, including thousands of businesses which include fiduciary services. For those who serve as a fiduciary or provide fiduciary support [...]
As a TOLI trustee, you have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that every transaction - either a new policy sale or replacement is not only suitable for your client, but also in your client’s best interest.
In our last blog, we tackled the question of when to sell a life insurance policy. With past and potential future changes in the estate tax laws and the aging of the population in the typical TOLI portfolio, life settlements will become more prominent in the coming years. The TOLI trustee must become aware of the sales process, so we wanted to provide a [...]
A TOLI trustee we work with received a request from a grantor tired of gifting to pay premiums on his portfolio of whole life policies. His agent suggested that the three policies be replaced with one policy with a reduced death benefit. The existing portfolio totaled $5.7 million of coverage. The agent proposed transferring the $2.1 million of cash value into a $3 million equity [...]
There are three continuing trends with respect to TOLI management in the corporate fiduciary space. If you find yourself managing or overseeing TOLI at a bank or trust company, I’m sure you are seeing some of this play out in your own department. TREND #1 Overdependence on Support Software If used correctly, ILIT support software is great for minimizing potential administrative miscues. Many of [...]
Variable universal life (VUL) policies, whose sales took a nosedive after the 2007-09 market crash, have had a resurgence. In 2018 sales jumped, with annualized premiums from new VUL sales increasing by 14% over the prior year. (1) VUL policies provide the policy owner with the opportunity to invest in the equity market. The cash value in the policy is held in separate accounts and [...]
The most common fear for a life insurance trustee is that somehow the ball is dropped and the policy in their care lapses. After all, a trust-owned life insurance (TOLI) trustee, even if they are not sophisticated in all the nuances of life insurance policy management, should at least be able to keep the policy in force. But unintended lapses do happen, and when they [...]
