Insurance-Linked Securities and Life Settlements

Life settlements involve the sale of an existing life insurance policy by the policy owner to a third-party buyer for a price greater than the policy's cash surrender value but less than the net death benefit. This secondary market enables policy owners to realize the fair market value of an asset they might otherwise surrender or allow to lapse, while providing institutional investors and funds with access to a non-correlated asset class.

EM³'s Insurance-Linked Securities and Life Settlements practice provides comprehensive legal services to participants in the insurance and secondary markets for life insurance policies. The Firm represents institutional investors, investment funds, life settlement providers, brokers, and individual policy owners in this specialized and regulated industry.

The insurance-linked securities practice covers the full spectrum of transactional, regulatory, due diligence, and litigation matters. The team represents some of the largest investors, life settlement providers, and other participants in the life settlements market, and it is one of the most experienced teams in the country.

The Firm handles the full range of life settlement transaction structures, including life settlement-backed notes, sidecar investment vehicles, premium finance arrangements, and tertiary market transactions. Our attorneys structure and document transactions that address the unique regulatory, tax, and commercial considerations of insurance-linked investments.

The Firm has represented purchasers and sellers of thousands of life settlements, as well as lenders and borrowers in asset-backed credit facilities, premium financing arrangements, and other complex structuring transactions.

The Firm has helped industry participants obtain licensure in almost every jurisdiction that regulates life settlement transactions, and prepare and implement regulatory programs and procedures to ensure compliance. That experience helps clients work through regulatory requirements efficiently.

The Firm handles every aspect of due diligence for clients, including comprehensive policy due diligence and verification, and insurable interest analysis and documentation.

The Firm participates actively in industry trade associations through board memberships, speaking engagements, and leadership roles in organizations such as the European Life Settlement Association and the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA).

The Firm also brings experience handling every aspect of disputes in the secondary market for life insurance, including transaction disputes, insurance company challenges to policies and payment of death benefits, and beneficiary disputes.

• Life settlement acquisitions and dispositions
• Premium finance arrangements
• Tertiary market transactions
• Asset-backed credit facilities
• Regulatory licensure and compliance
• Policy due diligence and insurable interest analysis
• Dispute resolution and insurance company challenges