Texas Insurance Code 463.261 – Assignment of Rights
(a) A person receiving a benefit under this chapter, including a payment of or on account of a contractual obligation, continuation of coverage, or provision of substitute or alternative coverage, is considered to have assigned to the association the rights under, and any cause of action relating to, the covered policy to the extent of the benefit received. The association may require a payee, policy or contract owner, beneficiary, insured, enrollee, or annuitant to assign the person’s rights and cause of action to the association as a condition of receiving a right or benefit under this chapter.
(b) The association’s subrogation rights under Subsection (a) have the same priority against the assets of the impaired or insolvent insurer as that held by the person entitled to receive a benefit under this chapter.
Terms Used In Texas Insurance Code 463.261
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- 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
- 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.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- 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.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- 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.
(c) The association has all common law rights of subrogation and any other equitable or legal remedy that would have been available to the impaired or insolvent insurer or holder, beneficiary, enrollee, or payee of a policy or contract with respect to the policy or contract.
(d) The rights of the association under Subsection (c) include, in the case of a structured settlement annuity, any rights of the owner, beneficiary, or payee of the annuity, to the extent of benefits received under this chapter, against any person originally or by succession responsible for the losses arising from the personal injury relating to the annuity or payment for the annuity, other than a person responsible solely by reason of serving as an assignee in respect of a qualified assignment under Section 130, Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. § 130).
(e) If a provision of this section is invalid or ineffective with respect to any person or claim for any reason, the amount payable by the association with respect to the related covered obligations is reduced by the amount realized by any other person with respect to the person or claim that is attributable to the policies, or portion of the policies, covered by the association. If the association has provided benefits with respect to a covered obligation and a person recovers amounts as to which the association has rights described in this section, the person shall pay to the association the portion of the recovery attributable to the policies, or portion of the policies, covered by the association.