Melville Capital

Why Use Melville Capital?

By filling out just our application, your case will be presented to all relevant buyers.

We cover the market efficiently, so you don’t have to.

1. We have a SPECIALIST TEAM with significant financial services experience who focuses STRICTLY ON LIFE SETTLEMENTS.
2. We are FULLY TRANSPARENT in our offers.
3. We have no loyalty to any one funding company. The HIGHEST OFFER WINS.
4. We employ a PROPRIETARY PROCESS including ordering multiple life expectancy reports and we have an actuary review and price policies, which helps us assess the fairness of offers from buyers.
5. We transact with INSTITUTIONS ONLY and never with individual investors. These institutions buy portfolios of policies and are looking strictly for ROI.
6. We’re covered by E&O insurance our buyers are covered by their own E&O.
7. We require the use of THIRD PARTY ESCROW agents by all buyers.

What is a Life Settlement?

A Life Settlement is the sale of an existing in-force life insurance policy to a third party via the secondary institutional market in exchange for an immediate lump sum cash payment that is less than the policy’s face value, but higher than the policy’s cash surrender value. It often can be three to five times the cash surrender value (CSV) of the policy and relieves the policy owner of all future premium payments on the policy.

All policies are eligible for a Life Settlement including Term Life, Universal Life and Variable Universal Life, Survivorship and Whole Life, with the general rule of thumb being the insured is over 70 years old with a minimum of $500,000 of insurance.

Did you know that 88% of Universal Life Insurance Policies end up lapsed or surrendered?

Only 12% end up in a Death Benefit claim!

Melville Capital is committed to changing those numbers. More often than not, existing Life Insurance Policies are overlooked; treated as an expense and not as the valuable and saleable asset that they are.

Life insurance provides financial solutions that help the Policy Owner meet various family or business needs, but sometimes these needs change. Now thanks to the increasingly competitive Secondary Market, life insurance is no longer treated as just a Death Benefit. Like stocks, bonds, real estate and other investment holdings, life insurance has become a fully evolved asset with a FMV (fair market value) – an asset which can be sold by its owner at the highest market price. Also, rather than just selling an unwanted, obsolete or unneeded policy, an inured may elect to use the sale proceeds to purchase new coverage with lower premiums or no premiums at all.

Until recently, if determined that a policy was no longer needed or wanted, there were only three options that were typically considered: (1) allow the life insurance policy to lapse; (2) continue to pay premiums and keep the policy in place; (3) surrender the policy to the insurance company for the cash surrender value.

The settlement amount will be determined by a combination of:

• Policy type
• Policy face amount
• Insurance company rating
• State of residency
• Policy premiums/year
• Age, gender and life expectancy of insured

Life Settlements are being used for many reasons such as providing the necessary funding required to obtain a more contemporary policy, funding dependant care/immediate needs and to achieve other complex financial planning goals.

As a point of reference, in 1911, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a well known Justice of the US Supreme court, laid the groundwork for today’s Life Settlement marketplace. In the case of Grigsby v. Russell, Justice Holmes established the policy owner’s right to transfer ownership of an insurance policy. In addition, The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recognizes Life Settlements as a viable solution and the AICPA as well as the American Bar Association recognize an advisor’s fiduciary duty to discuss settlement options with their clients.

What a Life Settlement is not?

The market for insurance has seen many unique opportunities arrive in such a short period of time. At Melville Capital, we strictly focus on Life Settlements. However, our transactions are frequently confused with other opportunities that are being talked about today.

1. Stranger Owned Life Insurance (STOLI) - “Stranger-originated life insurance” (“STOLI”) means any arrangement to initiate or facilitate the issuance of a policy for the intended benefit of an investor who has no “insurable interest” in the life of the insured. This means that the insurance investor is not a relative and is only involved in the transaction either to collect the death benefit after the insured dies or to resell the policy to another investor at a profit. In the typical scenario, the insured either gets paid at time of policy origination or at the end of the two year contestability period for their participation while the owner and beneficiary change to the investor. Many states have laws prohibiting STOLI transactions or are in the process of making laws to prohibit STOLI transactions.
2. Viatical Settlement - Regulatory usage of the terms “viatical settlement” and “life settlement” varies by state. While they are similar in that the insured is selling their policy to an outside ‘investor’, there are two very substantial differences. A viatical typically refers to someone who is terminally ill with a maximum life expectancy of 2 years and the policy was almost always sold to an individual or group of individuals. A life settlement focuses on policies insuring older individuals with life expectancies greater than two years and where policies are generally sold to Institutional Investors.
3. Investment opportunities - A Life Settlement proposal is not a proposal to raise investment capital to invest in the purchasing of policies. Melville Capital does not seek capital for investment purposes. All settled policies are sold to institutional investors who understand this marketplace. Some of these investors are entities such as commercial and investment banks, hedge funds and private equity funds. Be weary of anyone soliciting investment to purchase policies and/ or any group willing to sell policies to individual investors.

The Life Settlement market is flourishing. Presently over 35 states regulate Life Settlements and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners recognizes them as a viable solution that will remain active in the insurance marketplace. The AICPA as well as the American Bar Association recognizes an advisor’s fiduciary duty to discuss settlement options with their clients.

What is the taxation implication of a Life Settlement?

The following is provided strictly for informational purposes only and we strongly recommend policy owners seek guidance from a professional tax advisor prior to submitting a policy for sale and accepting any offers.

In general, there are four components to determining taxation on life settlements.

• Gross Basis – The total dollar amount paid to an insurance carrier for a policy.
• Cost of Insurance – The total dollar amount a carrier applies towards maintaining a policy for a particular amount of time (typically a monthly or annual amount)
• Net Purchase Price – The total amount of money paid to the seller of a life insurance net of commissions.
• Cash Surrender Value – The total dollar amount a seller would receive from an insurance carrier should they choose to surrender the policy. This amount is typically determined by the account value less any surrender charges.

According to IRS revenue rule 2009-13, gross basis must be reduced by a cost of insurance. The carrier might supply the COI but it is unlikely. If not, industry norm is that professionals to use IRS life insurance tables to estimate the COI.

1. Compute adjusted basis
   1. Gross basis less COI= (W)
2. Compute taxable liability
   1. (X) Net purchase price less (W) adjusted basis = (Y)
3. Compute ordinary vs. capital gains
   1. Ordinary income
      1. CSV less gross basis = (Z) (assuming this results in a positive number, amount applied to ordinary income)
      2. (Y) less (Z) = amount applied to LT gains

In summary:

• There is zero tax due for settlement amounts up to the adjusted basis.
• Ordinary income rates are paid for positive amounts between cash surrender value that exceeds gross basis.
• The remainder is taxed at long-term capital gains rates (assuming the policy is owned longer than 12 months).

Example:

Gross basis= $50k

Cost of insurance= $18k

Net purchase price= $100k

Cash surrender value= $60k

1. Compute adjusted basis
   1. ($50k) Gross basis less ($18k) COI= ($32k)
2. Compute taxable liability
   1. ($100k) Net purchase price less ($32k) adjusted basis= ($68k)
3. Compute ordinary vs. capital gains
   1. Ordinary income
      1. ($60k) CSV less ($50k) gross basis= ($10k) (assuming this results in a positive number, amount applied to ordinary income)
      2. (68k) adjusted basis less ($10k) ordinary income liability= ($58k) amount applied to LT gains

Click Here to access the official Internal Revenue Bulletin 2009-21 in reference to revenue rule 2009-13.

Please be advised that Melville Capital is not a tax advisor and does not provide tax advice. Melville Capital does not make any representations as to the tax treatment of a sale of a life insurance policy and recommends that you seek out a professional tax advisor.

Who Are Ideal Candidates for a Life Settlement?

An ideal candidate for life settlement includes:

• An insured over the age of seventy (70) with a in-force Universal Life, Variable Universal Life, Survivorship, Term Life, or Whole Life insurance policy with a minimum face amount $500,000.
• The need for cash outweighs their need for coverage and the insurance policy which he/she has owned for at least two (2) consecutive years.
• Further, the life insurance policy must be issued from a carrier rated A or better by AM Best.

Also, rather than just selling unwanted, obsolete, or unneeded life insurance policies, an insured may elect to use the sale proceeds to purchase coverage with lower premiums or no premiums at all.

How does the Life Settlement Process Work?

Appraisal Process Consists of:

1. Collection of application, policy, authorizations and medical information
2. Complete Life Expectancy underwriting of case
3. Send complete case to funding entities
4. Negotiate and obtain offers
5. Communicate appraisal value

Completing the Settlement Process:

1. Contacts are delivered to the policy owner or referring professional
2. Review, sign and return of settlement contract package
3. Escrow account opened and change instructions sent to carrier
4. Record ownership changes by insurance carrier
5. Escrow company releases cash settlement to client

Industry Statistics

According to the American Council of Life Insurers:

• 88% of Universal Life policies are lapsed or surrendered without ever paying a death benefit.
• Furthermore, it is believed that 99 percent of term life insurance policies are lapsed without ever paying a death benefit.
• $15-$20 Billion settled in 2007
• 18–22% of DB average offer
• 74 yr old male is average insured
• 250-400% increase average over CSV or 3 to 5 times the current value

The life insurance industry reports that currently there are approximately $14.5 trillion of in-force policies in the U.S., with more than 10% owned by senior citizens.

The Wharton Financial Institutions Center recently reported that more than 20% of policyholders over the of 65 are estimated to hold policies whose economic values far exceed their cash surrender values.

Studies conducted by two of the leading research organizations for the life insurance industry, Conning, Inc. and Matthew Greenwald Associates, estimate that approximately $500 billion currently qualify for Life Settlement transactions.