(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be so construed as to affect or apply to:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 56-25-704

  • 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
  • Certificate: means the document issued as written evidence of the benefit contract. See Tennessee Code 56-25-104
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-25-104
  • 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.
  • Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
  • Laws: means the society's articles of incorporation, charter, constitution and bylaws, however designated. See Tennessee Code 56-25-104
  • Lodge: means subordinate member units of the society, known as camps, courts, councils, branches or by any other designation. See Tennessee Code 56-25-104
  • Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds-type organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
  • Society: means fraternal benefit society, unless otherwise indicated. See Tennessee Code 56-25-104
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Grand or subordinate lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, or Knights of Pythias (exclusive of the insurance department of the Supreme Lodge, Knights of Pythias) and the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics (exclusive of the beneficiary degree or insurance branch of the National Council Junior Order United American Mechanics), nor to similar societies that do not issue insurance certificates;
(2) Orders, societies or associations that admit to membership only persons engaged in one (1) or more crafts or hazardous occupations, in the same or similar lines of business, insuring only their own members and their families, and the ladies’ societies or ladies’ auxiliaries to the orders, societies or associations. No domestic order, society or association that is, on January 1, 1991, operating under a certificate of authority issued by the commissioner shall be exempt by reason of this subdivision (a)(2);
(3) An association of local lodges or a society now doing business in this state that provides death benefits not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) to any one (1) person, or disability benefits not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300) to any one (1) person, or both, nor to any contracts or reinsurance business on such plan in this state;
(4) Domestic societies that limit their membership to employees of a particular city or town, designated firm, business house or corporation that provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars ($400) or disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars ($350) to any person in any one (1) year, or both; or
(5) Domestic societies or associations of a purely religious, charitable or benevolent description, that provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars ($400) or for disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars ($350) to any one (1) person in any one (1) year, or both.
(b) Any such society or association described in subdivision (a)(4) or (a)(5) that provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in subdivision (a)(5) that has more than one thousand (1,000) members shall not be exempted from this chapter, but shall comply with all requirements of this chapter.
(c) No society which, by the provisions of this section, is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in subdivision (a)(2) shall give or allow, or promise to give or allow, to any person more than one dollar ($1.00) per capita as compensation for procuring new members.
(d) Every society that provides for benefits in case of death or disability resulting solely from accident, and that does not obligate itself to pay natural death or sick benefits, shall have all of the privileges and be subject to all the applicable provisions and regulations of this chapter except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examinations, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability do not apply to such society.
(e) The commissioner may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, the information that will enable the commissioner to determine whether the society or association is exempt from this chapter.
(f) Societies exempt under this section are also exempt from all other provisions of the general insurance laws of this state.
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