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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                        CERTIFICATION OF PERIODIC REPORT
            PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

         I, the undersigned Chief Executive Officer of Fortis Benefits Insurance
Company (the "Company"), do hereby certify, pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, that:

         1. I have reviewed the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of the Company for
the period ended September 30, 2003 (this "Report");

                  2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the periods covered by this
report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of,
and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4. The Company's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Company and we have:

            a)    designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                  such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                  our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                  to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
                  made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
                  during the period in which this report is being prepared;

            b)    evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
                  report based on such evaluation; and

            c)    disclosed in this report any change in the Company's internal
                  control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act
                  Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) that occurred during the
                  Company's most recent fiscal quarter (the Company's fourth
                  fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
                  materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                  affect, the Company's internal control over financial
                  reporting.

         5. The Company's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
the Company's auditors and the Company's Board of Directors (or persons
performing the equivalent functions):

            a)    all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                  design or operation of internal control over financial
                  reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                  Company's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                  financial information; and

            b)    any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                  or other employees who have a significant role in the
                  Company's internal control over financial reporting.


Date: November 12, 2003

                             /s/ Robert B. Pollock
                             --------------------------
                             Robert B. Pollock
                             Chief Executive Officer



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