How Suicide Is Covered By Term Life Insurance Policies

One of the questions from my life insurance clients is about suicide.  Is suicide covered? They always asked.  So I decided to write a little blog about it.

Each life insurance policy is different, but most contain a suicide provision. The suicide provision states that if the person covered by the life insurance policy dies as the result of suicide within two years from the policy issue date then any beneficiaries would not be able to collect the death benefit. Otherwise, after the two year suicide provision period, the policy should pay the death benefit to the beneficiaries. But, again, check the policy's exclusions section, since the suicide provision can be different for each policy.

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Florida Regulator Slashes Sinkhole Rate Hike, Lowers Others

Florida residents who have sinkhole insurance through the state-backed property insurer will not have to pay a proposed statewide average 447 percent increase.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. customers will also be spared big price hikes for standard coverages under several rulings by Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.

Instead of the approving the requested 447 percent average increase in sinkhole rates, McCarty approved a statewide average 32.8 percent increase for Citizens, an increase he said is viable until there is more data from the reforms contained in this year’s property bill.

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Board of Florida’s Citizens to Meet Today on Sinkhole Rates

The board of governors of Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has called for an emergency meeting today to consider phasing in a proposed statewide average 429 percent sinkhole rate increase.
Newly-named Chairman Carlos Lacasa has called for the meeting in response to the growing controversy surrounding the issue. The meeting comes just one day before a public hearing on the issue in Tampa.

A Citizens’ staff proposal calls for no change in the overall sinkhole rate increase. However, the staff is recommending that the increase be phased-in over a yet to be determined number of years.
“The implementation plan developed by our actuarial staff would result in an overall average statewide and territorial premium increase for sinkhole coverage of 50 percent for the first year,” states the staff proposal.
The board will also take into consideration the sinkhole provisions contained in SB 408, the primary property insurance bill enacted earlier this year. Among other things, the bill created a statutory definition of “structural damage,” placed a two-year limit on claims, and created a number of fraud provisions.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has said that Citizens failed to take these reforms into effect when setting sinkhole rates.
A Citizens’ staff analysis states that while it is difficult to project the impact of SB 408 on sinkhole losses next year,  it is projecting that the sinkhole provisions will result in a 60 percent reduction in sinkhole premium for 2012.
In 2010, the state-backed insurer collected $32 million in sinkhole premium, but paid out roughly $250 million in claims.

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Do elevation certificates reduce flood insurance premiums?

• Very often, flood insurance premiums are reduced through the use of elevation certificates. In the absence of the data and information provided on elevation certificates, flood insurance companies assume the worse case scenario and charge the highest rates. Many property owners elect to purchase elevation certificates for pre-FIRM homes and buildings in the high-risk flood zones to determine if the flood insurance premium rate would be lower when rated according to post-FIRM rules.  It is however in your best interest to consult your insurance agent prior to conducting an elevation certificate, also before grandfathering if you wish to do the opposite and get a post-FIRM building rated as pre-FIRM.

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The elevation certificate is used primarily:

• By insurance agents and insurance companies to determine the proper flood insurance premium rates for individuals and businesses purchasing flood insurance polices through the NFIP.

• By property owners to support a request to FEMA for a Letter Of Map Revision (LOMR) to remove a home or building from a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA).

• By local building officials during the development process to ensure that all newly constructed homes and buildings comply with community floodplain management ordinances, which are based upon federal floodplain regulations set by FEMA.

• By federally regulated lending institutions, and their flood zone determination vendors, to correct geographic errors made during the standard flood zone determination process.

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What is an Elevation Certificate?

The elevation certificate is an important administrative tool for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and an important risk management tool for property owners with buildings currently classified within FEMA designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). It provides information on elevation, building type, flood map location, and additional information used to determine the proper flood insurance premium rates.  It is also used to support a request for a Letter Of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter Of Map Revision (LOMR), and to ensure compliance with community floodplain management ordinances.
An elevation certificate measures the difference in elevation between your home and the base flood elevation of your area.  It is required in order to properly rate post-FIRM buildings, which are buildings constructed after the publication of the first Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) in a particular community, in zones A1-A30, AE, AH, A (with BFE), VE, V1-V30, V (with BFE), AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, and AR/AO.  However, an elevation certificate is not required to buy flood coverage for pre-FIRM buildings unless the property owner or insurance agent wants to rate the buildings under the post-FIRM flood insurance rules to determine if the premium rate would be lower.
The elevation certificate must be signed and sealed by a land surveyor, engineer or architect authorized by law to certify such information. Most elevation certificates are prepared by surveyors licensed by the state in which the subject property is located.

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Mitigation Inspections Hike Premiums for Insureds of Florida Citizens

Florida property owners who purchased coverage from the state’s run property insurer have seen their premiums increase by an average $476 as a result of the insuring inspecting their property.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. launched a program last year to inspect homes after it suspected that some policyholders were getting hurricane mitigation discounts they didn’t deserve for supposedly upgrading their protection against windstorm damage.
As of May, the insurer had conducted more than 32,000 inspections, resulting in policyholders, on average, seeing their premiums increase by $476 for a total of $15.5 million. According to the insurer’s Market Accountability Advisory Committee, the insurer rescinded discounts for 60 percent of those inspected, while handing out discounts to eight percent of the affected policyholders.
The committee reported that around 15 percent of the insurer’s 17,365 policyholders up for renewal in May dropped their coverage, probably due to the higher costs. Forty-five of those policyholders were condominium buildings and another 15 percent were homeowners and condominium unit owners.
Policyholder premiums are expected to rise by $23 million this year based on the inspection program. The amount is more than exceeds the cost of the program, on which Citizens plans on spending $14.5 million this year. That pricetag includes $10.8 million for three companies conducting the inspections.

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