Terms Used In Ohio Code > Chapter 3916 - Viatical Settlements Model 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, but not limited to, film strips, motion pictures, and videos, that is published, disseminated, circulated, or placed directly or indirectly 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 policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
• anything of value: includes :

  (A) Money, bank bills or notes, United States treasury notes, and other bills, bonds, or notes issued by lawful authority and intended to pass and circulate as money;

  (B) Goods and chattels;

  (C) Promissory notes, bills of exchange, orders, drafts, warrants, checks, or bonds given for the payment of money;

  (D) Receipts given for the payment of money or other property;

  (E) Rights in action;

  (F) Things which savor of the realty and are, at the time they are taken, a part of the freehold, whether they are of the substance or produce thereof or affixed thereto, although there may be no interval between the severing and taking away;

  (G) Any interest in realty, including fee simple and partial interests, present and future, contingent or vested interests, beneficial interests, leasehold interests, and any other interest in realty;

  (H) Any promise of future employment;

  (I) Every other thing of value. See Ohio Code 1.03

• 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.
• 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.
• Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
• Business of viatical settlements: means an activity involved, but not limited to, in the offering, solicitation, negotiation, procurement, effectuation, purchasing, investing, financing, monitoring, tracking, underwriting, selling, transferring, assigning, pledging, or hypothecating or in any other manner acquiring an interest in a policy by means of viatical settlement contracts. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• Chronically ill: means having been certified within the preceding twelve-month period by a licensed health professional as:

  (1) Being unable to perform, without substantial assistance from another individual, at least two activities of daily living, including, but not limited to, eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, or continence for at least ninety days due to a loss of functional capacity; or

  (2) Requiring substantial supervision to protect the individual from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment; or

  (3) Having a level of disability similar to that described in division (C)(1) of this section, as determined under regulations prescribed by the United States secretary of the treasury in consultation with the United States secretary of health and human services. See Ohio Code 3916.01

• 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.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Escrow agent: means an independent third-party person who, pursuant to a written agreement signed by the viatical settlement provider and viator, provides escrow services related to the acquisition of a policy pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• 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 from a viatical settlement provider, credit enhancer, or any other person that has a direct ownership interest in a policy that is the subject of a viatical settlement contract and to which both of the following apply:

  (a) Its principal activity related to the transaction is providing funds to effect the business of viatical settlements or the purchase of one or more viaticated policies. See Ohio Code 3916.01

• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• imprisonment: means being imprisoned under a sentence imposed for an offense or serving a term of imprisonment, prison term, jail term, term of local incarceration, or other term under a sentence imposed for an offense in an institution under the control of the department of rehabilitation and correction, a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, a minimum security jail, a community-based correctional facility, or another facility described or referred to in section 2929. See Ohio Code 1.05
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Internet: means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks, including the graphical subnetwork known as the world wide web. 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.
• Licensee: means a person licensed as a viatical settlement provider or viatical settlement broker under this chapter. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• Life expectancy: means an opinion or evaluation as to how long a particular person is going to live. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• NAIC: means the national association of insurance commissioners. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• 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 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
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• 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
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Regulated financial institution: means a bank, a savings association, or credit union operating under authority granted by the superintendent of financial institutions, the regulatory authority of any other state of the United States, the national credit union administration, or the office of the comptroller of the currency. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• Related provider trust: means a titling trust or any other trust established by a licensed viatical settlement provider or a financing entity for the sole purpose of holding ownership or beneficial interest in purchased policies in connection with a financing transaction, provided that the trust has a written agreement with the licensed viatical settlement provider under which the licensed viatical settlement provider is responsible for ensuring compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements and under which the trust agrees to make all records and files related to viatical settlement transactions available to the superintendent of insurance as if those records and files were maintained directly by the licensed viatical settlement provider. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• 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.
• Rule: includes regulation. See Ohio Code 1.59
• 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 for one of the following purposes:

  (i) To provide access, either directly or indirectly, to institutional capital markets for a financing entity or licensed viatical settlement provider;

  (ii) In connection with a transaction in which the securities in the special purpose entity are acquired by qualified institutional buyers. See Ohio Code 3916.01

• state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
• 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 contract: means any of the following:

  (a) A written agreement between a viator and a viatical settlement provider that establishes the terms under which compensation or anything of value, that is less than the expected death benefit of the policy is or will be paid in return for the viator's present or future assignment, transfer, sale, release, devise, or bequest of the death benefit or ownership of any portion of the policy or any beneficial interest in the policy or its ownership;

  (b) The transfer or acquisition for compensation or anything of value for ownership or beneficial interest in a trust or an interest in another person that owns such a policy if the trust or other person was formed or availed of for the principal purpose of acquiring one or more life insurance policies;

  (c) A premium finance loan made for a policy by a lender to a viator on, before, or after the date of issuance of the policy in either of the following situations:

  (i) The viator or the insured receives a guarantee of the viatical settlement value of the policy. See Ohio Code 3916.01

• Viatical settlement contracts: include but are not limited to contracts that are commonly termed "life settlement contracts" and "senior settlement contracts. See Ohio Code 3916.01
• Viatical settlement provider: means a person, other than a viator, that enters into or effectuates a viatical settlement contract. 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
• Viaticated policy: means a policy that has been acquired by a viatical settlement provider pursuant to a viatical settlement contract. 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
• Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02