Sec. 1111A.014. GENERAL RULES. (a) Before entering into a life settlement contract with an owner of a policy with respect to which the insured is terminally or chronically ill, the provider must obtain:

(1) if the owner is the insured, a written statement from a licensed attending physician that the owner is of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence to enter into a settlement contract; and

(2) a document in which the insured consents to the release of medical records to a provider, settlement broker, or insurance agent and, if the policy was issued less than two years after the date of application for a settlement contract, to the insurance company that issued the policy.

(b) An insurer shall respond to a request for verification of coverage submitted by a provider, settlement broker, or life insurance agent not later than the 30th calendar day after the date the request is received. The request for verification of coverage must be made on a form approved by the commissioner. The insurer shall complete and issue the verification of coverage or indicate in which respects the insurer is unable to respond. In the response, the insurer shall indicate whether at the time of the response, based on the medical evidence and documents provided, the insurer intends to pursue an investigation about the validity of the insurance contract.

(c) On or before the date of execution of the life settlement contract, the provider shall obtain a witnessed document in which the owner consents to the settlement contract, represents that the owner has a full and complete understanding of the settlement contract and of the benefits of the policy, acknowledges that the owner is entering into the settlement contract freely and voluntarily, and, for persons with a terminal or chronic illness or condition, acknowledges that the insured has a terminal or chronic illness and that the terminal or chronic illness or condition was diagnosed after the policy was issued.

(d) The insurer may not unreasonably delay effecting change of ownership or beneficiary with any life settlement contract lawfully entered into in this state or with a resident of this state.

(e) If a settlement broker or life insurance agent performs any of these activities required of the provider, the provider is deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of this section.

(f) If a broker performs the verification of coverage activities required of the provider, the provider is deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of Section 1111A.012.

(g) Not later than the 20th day after the date that an owner executes the life settlement contract, the provider shall give written notice to the insurer that issued that insurance policy that the policy has become subject to a life settlement contract. The notice shall be accompanied by the documents required by Section 1111A.013(c).

(h) Medical information solicited or obtained by a license holder is subject to the applicable provision of state law relating to confidentiality of medical information, if not otherwise provided in this chapter.

(i) A life settlement contract entered into in this state must provide that the owner may rescind the contract on or before 15 days after the date the contract is executed by all parties to the contract. Rescission, if exercised by the owner, is effective only if notice of the rescission is given and the owner repays all proceeds and any premiums, loans, and loan interest paid on account of the provider within the rescission period. If the insured dies during the rescission period, the contract is rescinded subject to repayment by the owner or the owner's estate of all proceeds and any premiums, loans, and loan interest to the provider.

(j) Not later than the third business day after the date the provider receives from the owner the documents to effect the transfer of the insurance policy, the provider shall pay the proceeds of the settlement into an escrow or trust account managed by a trustee or escrow agent in a state or federally chartered financial institution pending acknowledgement of the transfer by the issuer of the policy. The trustee or escrow agent shall transfer to the owner the proceeds due to the owner not later than the third business day after the date the trustee or escrow officer receives from the insurer acknowledgment of the transfer of the insurance policy.

(k) Failure to tender the life settlement contract proceeds to the owner on or before the date disclosed to the owner renders the contract voidable by the owner for lack of consideration until the time the proceeds are tendered to and accepted by the owner. A failure to give written notice of the right of rescission under this subsection tolls the right of rescission for 30 days after the date the written notice of the right of rescission has been given.

(l) A fee paid by a provider, an owner, or other person to a broker in exchange for services provided to the owner pertaining to a life settlement contract must be computed as a percentage of the offer obtained, not the face value of the policy. Nothing in this section prohibits a broker from voluntarily reducing the broker's fee to less than a percentage of the offer obtained.

(m) A broker shall disclose to the owner anything of value paid or given to a broker that relates to a life settlement contract.

(n) A person, at any time prior to or at the time of the application for, or issuance of, a policy, or during a two-year period beginning on the date of issuance of the policy, may not enter into a life settlement contract regardless of the date the compensation is to be provided and regardless of the date the assignment, transfer, sale, devise, bequest, or surrender of the policy is to occur. This prohibition does not apply if:

(1) the owner certifies to the provider that the policy was issued on the owner's exercise of conversion rights arising out of a group or individual policy, provided the total of the time covered under the conversion policy plus the time covered under the prior policy is at least 24 months; or

(2) the owner submits independent evidence to the provider that one or more of the following conditions have been met during the two-year period described by this subsection:

(A) the owner or insured is terminally or chronically ill;

(B) the owner or insured disposes of the owner's or insured's ownership interests in a closely held corporation, pursuant to the terms of a buyout or other similar agreement in effect at the time the insurance policy was initially issued;

(C) the owner's spouse dies;

(D) the owner divorces the owner's spouse;

(E) the owner retires from full-time employment;

(F) the owner becomes physically or mentally disabled and a physician determines that the disability prevents the owner from maintaining full-time employment; or

(G) a final order, judgment, or decree is entered by a court of competent jurisdiction, on the application of a creditor of the owner, adjudicating the owner bankrupt or insolvent, or approving a petition seeking reorganization of the owner or appointing a receiver, trustee, or liquidator to all or a substantial part of the owner's assets.

(o) For the purposes of Subsection (n)(1), time covered under a group policy must be calculated without regard to a change in insurance carriers, provided the coverage has been continuous and under the same group sponsorship.

(p) Copies of the independent evidence described by Subsection (n)(2) must be submitted to the insurer at the time the provider submits a request to the insurer for verification of coverage. The copies must be accompanied by a letter of attestation from the provider that the copies are true and correct copies of the documents received by the provider. This section does not prohibit an insurer from exercising its right to contest the validity of a policy.

(q) If the provider submits to the insurer a copy of independent evidence provided for Subsection (n)(2)(A) at the time the provider submits a request to the insurer to effect the transfer of the policy to the provider, the copy is deemed to establish that the settlement contract satisfies the requirements of this section.

Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1156 (H.B. 2277), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2011.