Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 18 > Chapter 75 - Delaware Viatical Settlements Act

• 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, which are 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, sell, assign, devise, bequest, or transfer the death benefit or ownership of a life insurance policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• agricultural labor: means any service performed prior to January 1, 1972, which was agricultural labor as defined in this paragraph prior to such date, and remunerated service performed after December 31, 1971:

  (i) On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training and management of livestock, bees, poultry and fur-bearing animals and wildlife;

  (ii) In the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm;

  (iii) In connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in § 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended [12 U. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assessments: means the money payments to the State Unemployment Compensation Fund required by this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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.
• 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}
• Benefits: means the money payments payable to an individual, as provided in this chapter, with respect to the individual's unemployment. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Calendar quarter: means the period of 3 consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31, excluding, however, any calendar quarter or portion thereof which occurs prior to January 1, 1938, or the equivalent thereof as the Department may by regulation prescribe. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Chronically ill: means any of the following:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502

• Commissioner: means the Insurance Commissioner of this State. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• 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.
• crew leader: means an individual who:

  1. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Labor. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• 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.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• 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}
• Employer: means :

  (A) (i) Any employing unit which after December 31, 1971,

  (I) In any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year paid for service in employment wages of $1,500 or more, or

  (II) For some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or preceding calendar year, had in employment at least 1 individual (irrespective of whether the same individual was in employment in each such day);

  (ii) Any employing unit for which agricultural labor as defined in paragraph (11)(A)(vii) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977;

  (iii) Any employing unit for which domestic service as defined in paragraph (11)(B) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977;

  (iv) (I) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than domestic service is also performed is an employer under paragraphs (8)(A)(i) and (ii) of this section the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing domestic service after December 31, 1977, shall not be taken into account;

  (II) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than agricultural labor is also performed is an employer under paragraphs (8)(A)(i) and (iii) of this section, the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing service in agricultural labor after December 31, 1977, shall not be taken into account. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302

• employer client company: shall mean a company who enters into an agreement with an employee leasing company, professional employment organization (PEO) or similar entity to lease any or all of its regular employees. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Employing unit: means any individual or type of organization, including any partnership, association, trust, estate, joint stock company, insurance company or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or successor thereof or the legal representative of a deceased person, which has or subsequent to January 1, 1936, had in its employ 1 or more individuals performing services for it within this State. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Employment: means :

  (A) Any service performed prior to January 1, 1978, which was employment as defined in this paragraph prior to such date and, subject to the other provisions of this paragraph, service performed after December 31, 1977, including service in interstate commerce, by

  (i) Any officer of a corporation after December 31, 1995. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302

• Employment office: means a free public employment office or branch thereof operated by this State or as a part of a state-controlled system of public employment offices or by a federal agency charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation program or free public employment offices. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• farm: includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animals and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities and orchards. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• 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 person that has a direct ownership in a policy or certificate that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract and all of the following:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502

• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• 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).
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fraudulent viatical settlement act: includes :

  a. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502

• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established by this title to which all assessments required and from which all benefits provided under this chapter shall be paid. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Hospital: means an institution which has been licensed, certified or approved by the Department of Health and Social Services as a hospital. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• insurance 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• 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.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Life insurance producer: means any person licensed in this State as a resident or nonresident insurance producer who has received qualification or authority for life insurance coverage or a life line of coverage pursuant to Chapter 17 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• 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 in all cases where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and "sworn" includes affirmed; and the forms shall be varied accordingly. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• 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 a legal entity, including an individual, partnership, limited liability company, association, trust, corporation, or other legal entity. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502

• States: includes , in addition to the states of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subsidiaries: shall include , in addition to those such corporations where the insurer owns a majority of their stock, those corporations formed or acquired by an insurer where it owns less than a majority of such corporation's voting stock due to the laws of a foreign national which require the insurer to own less than a majority of the voting stock of such subsidiary insurance corporation if it is to operate in that nation. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 1313
• Terminally ill: means having an illness or sickness that can reasonably be expected to result in death in 24 months or fewer. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• valid claim: is a ny claim for benefits made in accordance with § 3317 of this title if the individual has been paid wages for employment required under § 3315(5) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Viatical settlement broker: means a person, including a life insurance producer as provided for in § 7503 of this title, who working exclusively on behalf of a viator and for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration offers or attempts to negotiate viatical settlement contracts between a viator and 1 or more viatical settlement providers or 1 or more viatical settlement brokers. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Viatical settlement contract: includes a premium finance loan made for a life insurance policy by a lender to viator on, before, or after the date of issuance of the policy where any of the following are met:

  1. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502

• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• 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 Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Viator: means the owner of a life insurance policy or a certificate holder under a group policy who resides in this State and enters or seeks to enter into a viatical settlement contract. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 7502
• Wages: means all remuneration for personal services, including commissions, bonuses, dismissal payments, holiday pay, back pay awards and the cash value of all remuneration in any medium other than cash. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Week: means calendar week, ending at midnight Saturday, but all work performed and wages earned during a working shift which starts before midnight Saturday shall be included in the week in which such shift begins. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Work: means service, including service in interstate commerce, performed for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 3302
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302