Section 632.435. Standard nonforfeiture law for individual deferred annuities.

 

(1)  No contract of annuity shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless it contains in substance the following provisions or corresponding provisions which in the opinion of the commissioner are at least as favorable to the contract holder:

(a) Upon cessation of payment of considerations under a contract, or upon the written request of the contract owner, the company shall grant a paid-up annuity on a plan stipulated in the contract of such value as is specified in subs. (5) to (8) and (10) .

(b) If a contract provides for a lump sum settlement at maturity or at any other time, upon surrender of the contract at or prior to the commencement of any annuity payments, the company shall pay in lieu of any paid-up annuity benefit a cash surrender benefit of such amount as is specified in subs. (5) , (6) , (8) , and (10) . The company may reserve the right to defer the payment of such cash surrender benefit, for a period not exceeding 6 months after demand therefor with surrender of the contract, if the company receives written approval from the commissioner upon the company's written request, which shall address the deferral's necessity and equitability to all policyholders.

(c) A statement of the mortality table, if any, and interest rates used in calculating any minimum paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits that are guaranteed under the contract, together with sufficient information to determine the amounts of such benefits.

(d) A statement that any paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits that may be available under the contract are not less than the minimum benefits required by any statute of the state in which the contract is delivered and an explanation of the manner in which such benefits are altered by the existence of any additional amounts credited by the company to the contract, any indebtedness to the company on the contract or any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract.

(e) Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection, any deferred annuity contract may provide that if no considerations have been received under a contract for a period of 2 years and the portion of the paid-up annuity benefit at maturity on the plan stipulated in the contract arising from considerations paid prior to such period would be less than $20 monthly, the company may terminate such contract by payment in cash of the then present value of such portion of the paid-up annuity benefit, calculated on the basis of the mortality table, if any, and interest rate specified in the contract for determining the paid-up annuity benefit, and by such payment shall be relieved of any further obligation under such contract.

(4)  

(a) In this subsection, “net considerations" means, for a given contract year, an amount equal to 87.5 percent of the gross considerations credited to the contract during that contract year.

(b) The minimum nonforfeiture amount at or prior to the commencement of any annuity payments shall be equal to an accumulation up to such time, at one or more rates of interest as indicated in pars. (c) to (e) , of the net considerations paid prior to such time, decreased by the sum of all of the following:

1. Any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract accumulated at one or more rates of interest as indicated in pars. (c) to (e) .

2. An annual contract charge of $50, accumulated at one or more rates of interest as indicated in pars. (c) to (e) .

3. Any premium tax paid by the company for the contract, accumulated at one or more rates of interest as indicated in pars. (c) to (e) .

4. The amount of any indebtedness to the company on the contract, including interest due and accrued.

(c) The interest rate used to determine minimum nonforfeiture amounts shall be an annual rate of interest that is the lower of 3 percent and the higher of either of the following:

1. The 5-year constant maturity treasury rate reported by the federal reserve board as of a date, or average over a period, specified in the contract no longer than 15 months prior to the contract issue date or redetermination date under par. (d) , less 125 basis points or, if the contract provides substantive participation in an equity indexed benefit during the period or term, the contract may increase the reduction by up to an additional 100 basis points to reflect the value of the equity index benefit, and rounded to the nearest one-twentieth of 1 percent.

2. One percent.

(d) The interest rate determined under par. (c) shall apply for an initial period and may be redetermined for additional periods. The redetermination date, basis, and period, if any, shall be stated in the contract. The basis is the date or average over a specified period that produces the value of the 5-year constant maturity treasury rate to be used at each redetermination date. The method for determining the interest rate under par. (c) shall be specified in the contract if the interest rate will be reset.

(e) The present value at the contract issue date, and at each redetermination date, of the additional reduction under par. (c) 1. for substantive participation in an equity index benefit may not exceed the market value of the benefit. The commissioner may require a demonstration that the present value of the additional reduction does not exceed the market value of the benefit. The commissioner may disallow or limit the additional reduction if the commissioner determines that the demonstration is unacceptable.

(f) The commissioner may promulgate rules for the implementation of par. (e) and to provide for further adjustments to the calculation of minimum nonforfeiture amounts for contracts that provide substantive participation in an equity index benefit and for other contracts for which the commissioner determines adjustments are justified.

(5)  Any paid-up annuity benefit available under a contract shall be such that its present value on the date annuity payments are to commence is at least equal to the minimum nonforfeiture amount on that date. Such present value shall be computed using the mortality table, if any, and the interest rate or rates specified in the contract for determining the minimum paid-up annuity benefits guaranteed in the contract.

(6)  For contracts which provide cash surrender benefits, such cash surrender benefits available prior to maturity shall not be less than the present value as of the date of surrender of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit which would be provided under the contract at maturity arising from considerations paid prior to the time of cash surrender reduced by the amount appropriate to reflect any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract, such present value being calculated on the basis of an interest rate not more than one percent higher than the interest rate specified in the contract for accumulating the net considerations to determine such maturity value, decreased by the amount of any indebtedness to the company on the contract, including interest due and accrued, and increased by any existing additional amounts credited by the company to the contract. No cash surrender benefit shall be less than the minimum nonforfeiture amount at that time. The death benefit under such contracts shall be at least equal to the cash surrender benefit.

(7)  For contracts which do not provide cash surrender benefits, the present value of any paid-up annuity benefit available as a nonforfeiture option at any time prior to maturity shall not be less than the present value of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit provided under the contract arising from considerations paid prior to the time the contract is surrendered in exchange for, or changed to, a deferred paid-up annuity, such present value being calculated for the period prior to the maturity date on the basis of the interest rate specified in the contract for accumulating the net considerations to determine such maturity value, and increased by any existing additional amounts credited by the company to the contract. For contracts which do not provide any death benefits prior to the commencement of any annuity payments, such present values shall be calculated on the basis of such interest rate and the mortality table specified in the contract for determining the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit, but the present value of a paid-up annuity benefit shall be not less than the minimum nonforfeiture amount at that time.

(8)  For the purpose of determining the benefits calculated under subs. (6) and (7) , in the case of annuity contracts under which an election may be made to have annuity payments commence at optional maturity dates, the maturity date shall be deemed to be the latest date for which election shall be permitted by the contract, but shall not be deemed to be later than the anniversary of the contract next following the annuitant's 70th birthday or the 10th anniversary of the contract, whichever is later.

(9)  Any contract which does not provide cash surrender benefits or does not provide death benefits at least equal to the minimum nonforfeiture amount prior to the commencement of any annuity payments shall include a statement in a prominent place in the contract that such benefits are not provided.

(10)  Any paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits available at any time, other than on the contract anniversary under any contract with fixed scheduled considerations, shall be calculated with allowance for the lapse of time and the payment of any scheduled considerations beyond the beginning of the contract year in which cessation of payment of considerations under the contract occurs.

(11)  For any contract which provides within the same contract, by rider or supplemental contract provision, both annuity benefits and life insurance benefits that are in excess of the greater of cash surrender benefits or a return of the gross considerations with interest, the minimum nonforfeiture benefits shall be equal to the sum of the minimum nonforfeiture benefits for the annuity portion and the minimum nonforfeiture benefits, if any, for the life insurance portion computed as if each portion were a separate contract. Notwithstanding subs. (5) to (8) and (10) , additional benefits payable in the event of total and permanent disability, as reversionary annuity or deferred reversionary annuity benefits or as other policy benefits additional to life insurance, endowment and annuity benefits, and considerations for all such additional benefits, shall be disregarded in ascertaining the minimum nonforfeiture amounts, paid-up annuity, cash surrender and death benefits that may be required by this section. The inclusion of such additional benefits shall not be required in any paid-up benefits, unless such additional benefits separately would require minimum nonforfeiture amounts, paid-up annuity, cash surrender and death benefits.

(13)  This section does not apply to any reinsurance, group annuity purchased under a retirement plan or plan of deferred compensation established or maintained by an employer (including a partnership or sole proprietorship), an employee organization or both (other than a plan providing individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities under section 408 of the U.S. internal revenue code, as now or hereafter amended), premium deposit fund, variable annuity, investment annuity, immediate annuity, deferred annuity contract after annuity payments have commenced, reversionary annuity or any contract which is delivered outside this state through an agent or other representative of the company issuing the contract.

1977 c. 153 ; 1979 c. 110 s. 60 (13) ; 2003 a. 261 .