CHAPTER 1. LIFE INSURANCE.ASSESSMENT PLAN
IC 27-8
ARTICLE 8. LIFE, ACCIDENT, AND HEALTH
IC 27-8-1
Chapter 1. Life Insurance.Assessment Plan
IC 27-8-1-1
Authority to incorporate
Sec. 1. Any number of persons not less than five (5) nor more than
thirteen (13), citizens of the United States, one (1) or more of whom
shall be bona fide citizens and voters of this state, may associate
themselves together as a body corporate for the purpose of
organizing a corporation, association or society to transact the
business of life insurance on the assessment plan, subject to the
conditions and restrictions hereinafter provided.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.1.)
IC 27-8-1-2
Corporate status and powers
Sec. 2. A corporation, association, or society organized under the
provisions of this chapter shall be a body corporate and politic by the
name stated in certificate of organization, and by that name, they and
their successors:
(1) may have succession, and shall be persons in law capable of
suing and being sued;
(2) may have power to make and enforce contracts in relation
to the legitimate business of their corporation, association or
society;
(3) may have and use a common seal, and may change or alter
the same at pleasure, and they or their successors in their
corporate name shall in law be capable of taking, purchasing,
holding, and disposing of real and personal estate for purposes
of their association or society; and
(4) may make bylaws not inconsistent with the constitution and
law of this state or the United States, in which bylaws shall be
defined the manner and form of electing directors and officers
of the corporation, association, or society, and the qualifications
and duties of the same, and also the qualifications and
privileges of members thereof.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.2.) As amended by P.L.252-1985,
SEC.269.
IC 27-8-1-3
Name; approval; misleading similarity
Sec. 3. The corporators shall submit the title or name of the
proposed corporation to the auditor of state, who shall approve the
same, provided it indicates the object or purpose for which the
corporation is formed, and does not too closely resemble a title in
use. Before approving a title, it shall be the duty of the auditor of
state to examine the titles of corporations appearing in all the
published insurance reports at his command, and not to approve any
title that would tend to mislead the public on account of its too
closely resembling some other title.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.3.)
IC 27-8-1-4
Statement of initial applications and deposit of first assessment
Sec. 4. Before the charter is granted to any such corporation, it
shall file its statement, sworn to by at least two (2) of its executive
officers, with the proper state officers, showing that application has
been made for not less than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000)
insurance by not less than one hundred (100) persons, and that the
amount of the first assessment on each policy or certificate has been
deposited in the bank to the credit of the mortuary fund; and it shall
be lawful for any corporation, association or society, or its agents, to
solicit and secure business to that amount, for the purpose herein
provided, before its charter shall have been granted.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.4.)
IC 27-8-1-5
Assessment; statement of object
Sec. 5. Assessment notices sent to members by any such an
association shall state the object for which the money to be collected
from the insured is intended, and no part of the proceeds of any
assessment shall be applied to any other purpose than the stated
purpose for which it was collected.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.5.)
IC 27-8-1-6
Exemption of certificates from valuation; insurable interest
Sec. 6. A policy or certificate issued by any such an association
shall be exempt from the valuation based upon the American
Experience Table, or any other table of mortality, in consequence of
such association conducting its business on the plan of assessing
members, and such policy or certificate, when the payments thereon
are made by any person other than the insured, and without the
written consent of the insured, to be valid must be supported by an
insurable interest.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.6.)
IC 27-8-1-7
Restriction on kinds of certificates; expenses; segregation of
expense and mortuary funds
Sec. 7. No corporation, association, or society organized under the
provisions of this chapter shall issue endowment certificates or
policies undertaking or promising to pay members during life, except
for accident or temporary illness, any stipulated sum of money. The
expenses of such corporation, association, or society shall be
provided for by admission fees, and either fixed annual payments or
assessments made and designated to be for such expenses, and no
part of the expense fund shall in any case be used to pay death
claims, and no part of the mortuary fund shall in any case be used to
pay expenses.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.7.) As amended by P.L.252-1985,
SEC.270.
IC 27-8-1-8
Annual statement; examination
Sec. 8. Any corporation, association, or society carrying on the
business of life or accident insurance on the assessment plan shall
submit annually, on or before February 28, under oath, to the
insurance commissioner a detailed statement of assets, liabilities,
insurance in force, and number of persons upon whom risks are in
force on the preceding December 31, and answer such interrogatories
as the commissioner, who shall furnish a blank for the purpose, may,
under the provisions of this chapter make in order to ascertain its
financial character and condition, and shall pay to the commissioner,
upon filing such statement, a fee of ten dollars ($10), and the
commissioner shall publish such statement in his annual report. For
the purpose of verifying such statement, the commissioner shall, on
petition of a majority of the officers or of ten (10) members of such
association supported by the affidavit of one (1) or more of the
petitioners showing the necessity therefor, institute an examination
of its affairs to ascertain its true character and condition.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.8; Acts 1891, c.189, s.1.) As amended
by P.L.252-1985, SEC.271.
IC 27-8-1-9
Repealed
(Repealed by Acts 1978, P.L.2, SEC.2728.)
IC 27-8-1-10
Quo warranto to remove officers or close business
Sec. 10. Whenever any such corporation or association shall fail
to make its annual statement to the insurance commissioner before
August 31, or if, in the opinion of the commissioner it is conducting
its business fraudulently or not in compliance with this chapter or is
not carrying out its contract with the members in good faith, then it
shall be the duty of the commissioner to communicate the fact to the
attorney general, who may thereupon commence proceeding, by writ
of quo warranto against such corporation, association, or society,
requiring it to show cause why its officers should not be removed or
its business closed, and the court shall thereupon hear the allegations
and proofs of the respective parties; and if it shall appear to the
satisfaction of such court that the officers of such corporation,
association, or society, or any one (1) or more of them, have been
guilty of any material irregularity or violation of law to the injury of
such corporation, association, or society, the said court shall decree
a removal from office of the guilty party or parties and substitute
suitable persons to serve until the regular annual election, or until a
successor is regularly chosen; or if it shall appear to the court that the
interest of the public so requires, the court shall decree a dissolution
of such corporation, association, or society and a distribution of its
effects.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.10.) As amended by P.L.252-1985,
SEC.272.
IC 27-8-1-11
Bonds of officers and agents
Sec. 11. No agent or officer of such corporation, association or
society, shall be permitted to collect or receive any dues or
assessments for or on account of the same until he executes, jointly
with two (2) responsible sureties, a bond to the corporation, approved
by the board of directors thereof, in such sum as they shall prescribe,
conditioned upon the payment of all dues, assessments or funds over
to the proper officer of such corporation, and all receipts of any such
corporation shall be paid into the hands of the treasurer thereof, who
shall, before assuming the duties of his office, give a bond in the sum
of not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), with not less than
two (2) sureties, to be approved by the board of directors, and
conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties, and the
accounting for, and the proper payment and disbursement by him of,
all moneys thereof which come into his hands.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.11.)
IC 27-8-1-12
Examination of sufficiency of treasurer's bond
Sec. 12. Said bond of treasurer shall be examined as to its
efficiency annually by the auditor of state, and it shall then be
renewed if he shall deem the present bond insufficient. Said bond
shall be recorded in the recorder's office in the county in this state in
which one (1) of the incorporators resides, and a certified copy of
said record shall, by said recorder, be forwarded to the auditor of
state, who shall file and preserve the same in his office.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.12.)
IC 27-8-1-13
Qualification of foreign corporation
Sec. 13. Any corporation, association or society, organized under
the laws of any other state or government to insure lives on the
assessment plan, or any corporation carrying on the business of life
or accident insurance on the assessment plan, shall be licensed by the
auditor of state, upon the payment to the auditor of state of a fee of
twenty-five dollars ($25.00), to do business in this state. However,
the corporation or association shall first deposit with the auditor of
state a certified copy of its charter or articles of incorporation, a copy
of its statement of business for the preceding year, with the names
and residence of its officers, sworn to by the president and secretary,
or like officers, showing a detailed account of expenses and income,
the amount of insurance in force, its assets and liabilities in detail,
and setting forth that it has the ability to pay its policies or
certificates to the full limit named therein; a certificate from the
insurance commissioner or from a judge or clerk of a court of record
of its home state, certifying that corporations or associations insuring
life in the assessment plan, and paying policies in full, or providing
accident indemnities, and chartered under the laws of this state are
legally entitled to do business in its home state; a copy of its policy
or certificate of membership, application and by-laws, which must
show that death losses are, in the main, provided for by assessment
upon the surviving members; and it shall legally designate an
individual resident of Indiana, a corporate resident of Indiana, or an
authorized Indiana insurer as its agent or attorney in fact, residing in
this state, upon whom service of process for said company or
association may be made, and the agent or attorney in fact shall
immediately notify any corporation or association thus served.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.13.) As amended by P.L.268-1999,
SEC.18.
IC 27-8-1-14
Retaliatory provision
Sec. 14. When any other state or government shall impose any
obligation upon such corporation, association or society of this state,
or their agents transacting business in such other state or government,
the like obligations are hereby imposed on similar corporations,
associations or societies of such other state or government, and their
agents or representatives, transacting business in this state.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.14; Acts 1889, c.169, s.2.)
IC 27-8-1-15
Foreign corporations; annual statement and fee; license revocation
for failure to file statement; solvency statement from foreign state
Sec. 15. Such corporation, association or society, shall pay to the
auditor of state, upon filing each annual statement, a fee of ten
dollars ($10.00). And in the event of its failure to make such
statement on or before the thirty-first day of August of each year, the
auditor of state shall revoke its license, and thereafter, or until such
statement is made, it shall be deemed to be doing business unlawfully
in this state. When the auditor of state of this state shall have reason
to doubt the solvency of any such foreign corporation, association or
society, he shall accept a statement from the insurance commissioner,
or like officer of the state under whose authority it was organized, as
prima facie evidence of its solvency.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.15.)
IC 27-8-1-16
Foreign corporations; fraudulent practices; quo warranto to
revoke license
Sec. 16. When, in the auditor's opinion, such corporation or
association is in this state conducting its business fraudulently, or is
not carrying out its contracts with members residing in this state, in
good faith, he shall report the same to the attorney-general, who shall
thereupon commence proceedings by writ of quo warranto against
such corporation or association, requiring it to show cause why its
license to do business in this state should not be revoked.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.16.)
IC 27-8-1-17
Noncompliance; violations
Sec. 17. An officer, agent, or employee of a corporation or
association who knowingly permits the corporation or association to
do business in Indiana, unless it has complied with the laws of this
state applicable to the same, commits a Class B misdemeanor.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.17.) As amended by Acts 1978, P.L.2,
SEC.2725.
IC 27-8-1-18
Exemption of fraternal societies
Sec. 18. The provisions of this chapter shall in no way apply to
any secret or fraternal society or lodge or association which, under
the supervision of a grand or supreme lodge, secures membership
through the lodge system exclusively, and provides insurance to its
members, nor to insurance organizations of a purely benevolent
character which pay no commission nor employ any paid insurance
producer, organized under the laws of this or any other state.
(Formerly: Acts 1883, c.136, s.18.) As amended by P.L.252-1985,
SEC.273; P.L.178-2003, SEC.58.