2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 31 - Insurance and Securities › Chapter 47 - Provisions Relating to All Life Insurance Companies › § 31–4705. Annuity and pure endowment contracts; forms to be filed and approved; required provisions; applications, riders and endorsements

§ 31–4705. Annuity and pure endowment contracts; forms to be filed and approved; required provisions; applications, riders and endorsements.
(a) On and after January 1, 1935, no annuity or pure endowment contract shall be issued or delivered in the District unless and until a copy of the form thereof has been filed with the Commissioner and formally approved by him.
(b) Except in the case of a reversionary annuity, otherwise called a “survivorship annuity,” or an annuity contracted by an employer in behalf of his employees, no annuity or pure endowment contract shall be so issued or delivered in this District unless it contains, in substance, the following provisions:
(1) A provision that there shall be a period of grace, either of 30 days or of 1 month, within which any stipulated payment to the company falling due after the 1st year may be made, subject, at the option of the company, to an interest charge thereon at a rate to be specified in the contract, but not exceeding 6 per centum per annum for the number of days of grace elapsing before such payment, during which period of grace the contract shall continue in full force; but in case a claim arises under the contract on account of death during the said period of grace before the overdue payment to the company or the deferred payments of the current contract year, if any, are made, the amount of such payments, with interest on any overdue payments, may be deducted from any amount payable under the contract in settlement;
(2) If statements, other than those relating to age and identity, are required, as a condition of issuing the contract, a provision that the contract shall be incontestable after it has been in force during the lifetime of the person or each of the persons as to whom such statements are required, for a period of 2 years from its date of issue, except where stipulated payments to the company have not been made, and except for violation of the conditions of the contract relating to military or naval service in time of war, and at the option of the company, provisions relative to benefits in the event of total and permanent disability and provisions which grant insurance specifically against death by accident may also be excepted;
(3) A provision that such contract shall constitute the entire contract between the parties, but if the company desires to make the application a part of the contract it may do so, provided a copy of such application shall be endorsed upon or attached to such contract, when issued, and in such case such contract shall contain a provision that it, together with the application therefor, shall constitute the entire contract between the parties;
(4)(A) A provision that if the age of the person or persons upon whose life or lives the contract is based, or of any of them, has been misstated, the amount payable under the contract shall be such as the stipulated payments to the company would have purchased at the correct age or ages; or
(B) Any overpayment or overpayments by the company, on account of misstatement of age, shall with interest thereon at a rate to be specified in the contract, but not exceeding 6 per centum per annum, be charged against the current or next-succeeding payment or payments to be made by the company under the contract;
(5) If the contract is participating, a provision that the divisible surplus shall be apportioned annually and dividends shall be payable in cash or shall be applicable to any stipulated payment or payments to the company under the contract;
(6) A provision specifying the options available in the event of cessation of payment of considerations under the contract. In the case of contracts issued on or after the operative date of § 31-4705.03 (the standard nonforfeiture law for individual deferred annuities), such options shall be in accordance with § 31-4705.03. In the case of contracts issued prior to the operative date of § 31-4705.03, such option shall provide that if the contract, after having been in force for 3 full years, shall, by its terms, lapse or become forfeited because any stipulated payment to the company shall not have been made, the reserve on such contract, computed according to the standard adopted by said company in accordance with this chapter, shall, after deducting one fifth of the said entire reserve, and any indebtedness to the company under the contract, be applied as a net single payment, according to said standard, for the purchase of a paid-up annuity or pure endowment contract, which may be nonparticipating and which shall be payable by the company under the same terms and conditions, except as to amount, as the original contract. For contracts issued prior to the operative date of § 31-4705.03, a company may provide, in lieu of such paid-up values, for a paid-up annuity or pure endowment contract in an amount bearing the same proportion to the original annuity or pure endowment contract as the number of stipulated payments which shall have been made to the company shall bear to the total number of stipulated payments required to be made to the company under the contract, and if there be any indebtedness to the company under the contract, the amount of such paid-up annuity or pure endowment shall be reduced by an amount bearing the same proportion to such paid-up annuity or pure endowment as such indebtedness bears to the reserve on such paid-up annuity or pure endowment, computed according to the standard adopted by said company in accordance with this chapter; and
(7) A provision that the contract may be reinstated at any time within 1 year from the date of default in making stipulated payments to the company, provided that all overdue stipulated payments and any indebtedness to the company on the contract shall be made or paid, with interest thereon at a rate to be specified in the contract, but not exceeding 6% per annum, payable annually. In cases where applicable a company may also include a requirement of evidence of insurability satisfactory to the company.
(c) No contract for a reversionary annuity shall be so issued or delivered unless it contains in substance the following provisions:
(1) Paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (5) of subsection (b) of this section, except that under paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this section, the company may, at its option, provide for an equitable reduction of the amount of the annuity payments in settlement of any overdue or deferred payments, in lieu of providing for a deduction of such payments from any amount payable upon a settlement under the contract;
(2) A provision that, if the age of any of the persons upon whose lives the contract is based has been misstated, the amount payable under the contract shall be such as the stipulated payments to the company would have purchased at the correct ages; and
(3) A provision that the contract may be reinstated at any time within 3 years from the date of default in making stipulated payments to the company, upon production of evidence of insurability satisfactory to the company, provided that all overdue payments and any indebtedness to the company on the contract shall be made or paid, with interest thereon at a rate to be specified in the contract, but not exceeding 6 per centum per annum, payable annually.
(d) Any of the foregoing provisions or portions thereof not applicable to nonparticipating contracts nor to contracts for which a single stipulated payment to the company is made shall, to that extent, not be incorporated therein; and any such contract may be issued or delivered in this District, which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, contains provisions on any 1 or more of the several foregoing requirements, more favorable to the holder of the contract than hereinbefore required.
(e) Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent a life company, which issues life insurance on a participating basis, from issuing annuities, reversionary annuities, or pure endowments on a nonparticipating basis.
(f) Any such contract or any application, endorsement, or rider form used in connection therewith, issued in violation of this section, shall, nevertheless, be held valid, but shall be construed as provided in this section and when any provision in such contract, application, endorsement, or rider is in conflict with any provision of this section or with any other statutory provision, the rights, duties, and obligations of the company, of the holder of the contract and of the beneficiary or annuitant thereunder shall be governed by the provisions of this section.
(g) The provisions of this section shall not apply to contracts of reinsurance nor to contracts for deferred annuities or reversionary annuities included in life insurance policies.
(h) For the purposes of this section, application forms, rider forms, and endorsement forms for use in connection with any such contract, excepting riders or endorsements relating to the manner of distribution of benefits or to the reservation of rights and benefits under any such contract, and used at the request of the individual holders of such contracts, shall be deemed to be parts of such contract and shall require the approval of the Commissioner. No rider and no endorsement, except as stated above, shall be attached to or printed or stamped upon any such contract issued or delivered in the District until the form of such rider or endorsement has been filed with the Commissioner and formally approved by him.
(June 19, 1934, 48 Stat. 1161, ch. 672, ch. V, § 5; Oct. 13, 1978, D.C. Law 2-120, § 5, 25 DCR 1519; May 21, 1997, D.C. Law 11-268, § 10(j), 44 DCR 1730.)
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 35-505.
1973 Ed., § 35-705.
Cross References
Copy of application, required delivery with policy, see § 31-5203.
False statements in application, effect, see § 31-4314.
Industrial policies, special provisions governing, see § 31-4801 et seq.
References in Text
The “operative date of § 31-4705.03,” referred to throughout paragraph (b)(6) of this section, is prescribed by § (9)(b) of D.C. Law 2-120.
Editor's Notes
Department of Insurance abolished: See Historical and Statutory Notes following § 31-4701.