2023 California Code › Insurance Code - INS › DIVISION 2 - CLASSES OF INSURANCE › PART 2 - LIFE AND DISABILITY INSURANCE › CHAPTER 1 - The Contract › ARTICLE 3a - Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance › Section 10160.

10160. Except as provided in Section 10165, no policy of life insurance shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless it shall contain in substance the following provisions, or corresponding provisions which are at least as favorable to the defaulting or surrendering policyholder as are the minimum requirements hereinafter specified and are essentially in compliance with Section 10164.1 of this law:
(a) That, in the event of default in any premium payment after premiums have been paid for at least one full year the insurer will grant, upon proper request not later than 60 days after the due date of the premium in default, a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit on a plan stipulated in the policy, effective as of such due date, of such amount as may be hereinafter specified. In lieu of this stipulated paid-up nonforfeiture benefit, the company may substitute, upon proper request not later than 60 days after the due date of the premium in default, an actuarially equivalent alternative paid-up nonforfeiture benefit which provides a greater amount or longer period of death benefits or, if applicable, a greater amount or earlier payment of endowment benefits.
(b) That, upon surrender of the policy within 60 days after the due date of any premium payment in default after premiums have been paid for at least three full years in the case of ordinary insurance or five full years in the case of industrial insurance, the insurer will pay, in lieu of any paid-up nonforfeiture benefit, a cash surrender value of such amount as may be hereinafter specified.
(c) That a specified paid-up nonforfeiture benefit shall become effective as specified in the policy unless the person entitled to make such election elects another available option not later than 60 days after the due date of the premium in default.
(d) That, if the policy shall have become paid-up by completion of all premium payments or if it is continued under any paid-up nonforfeiture benefit which became effective on or after the third policy anniversary in the case of ordinary insurance or the fifth policy anniversary in the case of industrial insurance, the insurer will pay, upon surrender of the policy within 30 days after any policy anniversary, a cash surrender value of such amount as may be hereinafter specified.
(e) In the case of policies which cause, on a basis guaranteed in the policy, unscheduled changes in benefits or premiums, or which provide an option for changes in benefits or premiums other than a change to a new policy, a statement of the mortality table, interest rate, and method used in calculating cash surrender values and the paid-up nonforfeiture benefits available under the policy. In the case of all other policies, a statement of the mortality table and interest rate used in calculating the cash surrender values and the paid-up nonforfeiture benefits available under the policy, together with a schedule showing the cash surrender value, if any, and paid-up nonforfeiture benefit, if any, available under the policy on each policy anniversary either during the first 20 policy years or during the term of the policy, whichever is shorter, such values and benefits to be calculated upon the assumption that there are no dividends or paid-up additions credited to the policy and that there is no indebtedness to the insurer on account of or secured by the policy. At the option of the insurer such schedule may also show such values and benefits for any year or years beyond the twentieth policy year.
(f) A brief and general statement of the method to be used in calculating the cash surrender value and the paid-up nonforfeiture benefit available under the policy on any policy anniversary beyond the last anniversary for which such values and benefits are consecutively shown in the policy with an explanation of the manner in which the cash surrender values and the paid-up nonforfeiture benefits are altered by the existence of any paid-up additions credited to the policy or any indebtedness to the insurer on account of or secured by the policy.
Any of the foregoing provisions or portions thereof not applicable by reason of the plan of insurance may, to the extent inapplicable, be omitted from the policy.
The insurer shall reserve the right to defer the payment of any cash surrender value for a period of six months after demand therefor with surrender of the policy.
(Amended by Stats. 1981, Ch. 767, Sec. 3.)