2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 33. Insurance and Insurance Companies › Chapter 20. Life Insurance › Part 15. Funeral Insurance › 33-20-1501. Funeral insurance

33-20-1501. Funeral insurance.
(1) (a) "Funeral insurance" means an insurance policy or certificate that requires a one-time payment or the payment of premiums to provide for the costs of a funeral and burial for the policyholder or a named individual.
(b) Funeral insurance is a type of life insurance provided for in 33-1-208 and regulated under Title 33, chapter 20. The terms "burial insurance" and "preneed funeral insurance" have the same meaning as funeral insurance.
(c) Funeral insurance may be:
(i) included in a life insurance policy. This form of funeral insurance may not be sold by or through a person licensed under Title 37, chapter 19, regardless of whether a person licensed under Title 37, chapter 19, also has an insurance producer's license in this state.
(ii) a limited policy or certificate with a guaranteed death benefit that may be sold by:
(A) a licensed insurance producer; or
(B) a person licensed under Title 37, chapter 19, parts 3 and 4, if that person also is licensed as a life insurance producer in this state.
(d) Unless otherwise provided by Title 33, chapter 20, the initial policy or certificate limit under subsection (1)(c)(ii) is up to $25,000.
(2) Funeral insurance for the purposes of Title 33 is not a fixed amount prepaid into a trust or escrow fund, called a prearranged funeral plan, as described in 37-19-827, or a preneed arrangement, as defined in 37-19-101, and regulated under Title 37, chapter 19.
(3) A funeral insurance policy and any solicitation material for the policy must clearly indicate that:
(a) the policy is a life insurance product;
(b) the applicant may designate the beneficiary, including but not limited to a funeral director, mortician, mortuary, or undertaker, if the applicant has an insurable interest in the life of the insured; and
(c) subject to the provisions of 33-20-1502 and this section, the beneficiary may use the proceeds for any purpose.
(4) The funeral insurance policy must state that the insurance company shall, as a condition of paying the benefits of the insurance policy, require from the funeral director, mortician, mortuary, or undertaker:
(a) a certified copy of the certificate of death of the insured or other evidence of death satisfactory to the insurance company; and
(b) a certificate of completion signed by the funeral director, mortician, or undertaker stating that the funeral director, mortician, undertaker, or mortuary has delivered all the goods and performed all the services contracted for, by, or on behalf of the insured.
(5) (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of 33-15-414, the funeral insurance policy must contain an assignability clause that allows the policy or certificate to be assigned or otherwise transferred to another funeral director, mortician, mortuary, or undertaker licensed to do business in this state in conjunction with the assumption of the contractual obligation to provide the funeral goods or services to the extent permitted by state or federal law for the purpose of the insured's eligibility for supplemental security income benefits, medicaid, or other public assistance benefits.
(b) The assignability clause may not be used by a funeral director, mortician, mortuary, or undertaker to pledge, assign, transfer, borrow from, or otherwise encumber an insurance policy assigned to it for purposes of purchasing funeral goods or services prior to delivering all of the goods and performing all of the services contracted for, by, or on behalf of the insured.
(6) After the death of a person who at any time received medicaid benefits, a funeral director, mortician, mortuary, undertaker, or other person, including but not limited to the decedent's spouse, heir, devisee, or personal representative, who is the beneficiary of funeral insurance in excess of $5,000 in value designated to pay for the disposition of the medicaid recipient's remains and for related expenses shall, after paying for the disposition and related expenses, pay all remaining funds to the department of public health and human services within 30 days following the receipt of the funeral insurance death benefit. The funds must be paid to the department regardless of any provision in a written contract, insurance policy, or other agreement entered into on or after January 1, 2008, directing a different disposition of the funds. Funds paid to the department under this section are not considered to be property of the deceased medicaid recipient's estate, and the provisions of 53-6-167 do not apply to recovery of the funds by the department.
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 507, L. 2007; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 52, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 202, L. 2023.