Ohio Code 3916.02 – Viatical settlement provider or broker license
(A) Notwithstanding division (C) of this section, no person shall operate in this state as a viatical settlement provider or viatical settlement broker without first having obtained a license from the superintendent of insurance and, if the owner of the policy to be viaticated is not a resident of this state, from the comparable official of the state of residence of the owner if that state issues licenses for viatical settlement providers or viatical settlement brokers.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3916.02
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- 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.
- person: means a natural person or a legal entity, including, but not limited to, an individual, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, association, trust, business trust, or corporation. See Ohio Code 3916.01
- Policy: means an individual or group policy, group certificate, or other contract or arrangement of life insurance affecting the rights of a resident of this state or bearing a reasonable relation to this state, regardless of whether delivered or issued for delivery in this state. See Ohio Code 3916.01
- 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 the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
- Viatical settlement broker: means a person that, on behalf of a viator and for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, offers or attempts to negotiate viatical settlements between a viator and one or more viatical settlement providers or viatical settlement brokers. See Ohio Code 3916.01
- Viatical settlement purchaser: means a person who provides a sum of money as consideration for a policy or an interest in the death benefits of a policy from a viatical settlement provider that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract, or a person who owns, acquires, or is entitled to a beneficial interest in a trust or person that owns a viatical settlement contract or is the beneficiary of a policy that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract, for the purpose of deriving an economic benefit. See Ohio Code 3916.01
- Viator: means the owner of a policy or a certificate holder under a group policy that has not previously been viaticated who, in return for compensation or anything of value that is less than the expected death benefit of the policy or certificate, assigns, transfers, sells, releases, devises, or bequests the death benefit or ownership of any portion of the policy or certificate of insurance. See Ohio Code 3916.01
(B)(1) If there is more than one owner on a single policy and the owners are residents of different states, the viatical settlement contract shall be governed by the law of the state in which the owner having the largest percentage ownership of the policy resides or, if the owners hold equal ownership, the state of residence of one owner agreed upon in writing by all owners.
(2) If the viator is a resident of this state, all agreements to be signed by the viator shall provide exclusive jurisdiction to courts of this state and the laws of this state shall govern the agreements. Nothing in the agreements shall abrogate the viator’s right to a trial by jury.
(C)(1) A person who represents the viator and is not compensated directly or indirectly by the viatical settlement provider or viatical settlement purchaser, who is licensed as an attorney, certified public accountant, or financial planner accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation agency may negotiate viatical settlement contracts on behalf of a viator without obtaining a license pursuant to division (A) of this section.
(2) An individual insurance agent, in good standing, who has been licensed as a resident or nonresident insurance agent with a life line of authority in this state for at least five years may operate as a viatical settlement broker without obtaining a license pursuant to division (A) of this section if the viatical settlement broker activities of the insurance agent are incidental to the insurance agent’s insurance business activities.