May 5, 2010 – The April 7 issue of InsideTrack reported on two pending insurance regulation bills supported by the State Bar’s Elder Law Section – the suitability of the sale of annuities to consumers, and the purchase and sale of life insurance contracts by insured owners during their lifetimes.

“The Elder Law Section is pleased that both pieces of legislation passed with bipartisan support and are headed to Gov. Doyle for his signature,” reports Milwaukee attorney Barbara J. Becker. “This legislation was introduced at the request of the Commissioner of Insurance.”

New legislation revising the statute on suitability of annuity sales will give consumers added protection from aggressive annuity sellers, says Becker.  It also gives the Commissioner of Insurance added tools to regulate annuity sales, annuity sellers, and insurers who must now monitor the sales practices of the intermediaries who do the selling.

The legislation regulating the life settlement industry will go a long way in preventing the purchase and resale of stranger-originated life insurance in Wisconsin.  The bill prohibits the sale of a life insurance policy whose premiums are paid with funds from nonrecourse financing for a five-year period from the original purchase date.  A long list of exceptions is provided that allows a sale after two years for unanticipated changes experienced by the insured purchaser, such as a divorce, a death of the intended beneficiary, a sale of a business, etc.

Becker testified in support AB 758/SB 513, the life settlement of life insurance policies and the practice of strange-originated life insurance (STOLI) bills, and AB 811/SB 572, the annuity suitability bills, before the Assembly Insurance Committee.