SECTION 4.1502. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) Affiliate of an insurer--Any person, directly or indirectly, controlling, controlled by, or under common control with such insurer; any person who regularly furnishes investment advice to such insurer with respect to its separate accounts for which a specific fee or commission is charged; or any director, officer, partner, or employee of such insurer, controlling or controlled person, or person providing investment advice or any member of the immediate family of such person.

(2) Agent--Any person, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity that is licensed by this state as a life insurance agent.

(3) Assumed investment rate--The rate of investment return that would be required to be credited to a variable life contract, after deduction of charges for taxes, investment expenses, and mortality and expense guarantees to maintain the variable death benefit equal at all times to the amount of death benefit, other than incidental insurance benefits, which would be payable under the plan of insurance if the death benefit did not vary according to the investment experience of the separate account.

(4) Benefit base--The amount to which the net investment return is applied.

(5) Cash surrender value--The net cash surrender value plus any amounts outstanding as contract loans.

(6) Commissioner--The commissioner of insurance of this state.

(7) Contract cost factors--Those amounts that affect the price per thousand of life insurance coverage or other benefits. They include interest, mortality, expense charges, and fees, including any surrender charges, but not persistency assumptions.

(8) Contract processing day--The day on which charges authorized in the contract are deducted from the contract value.

(9) Contract value--The amount to which interest is credited, and against which separately identified mortality charges, expense charges, fees, and other charges are debited.

(10) Control (including the terms "controlling," "controlled by," and "under common control with")--The possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. Control is presumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing more than 10% of the voting securities of any other person. This presumption may be rebutted by a showing made to the satisfaction of the commissioner that control does not exist in fact. The commissioner may determine, after furnishing all persons in interest with notice and opportunity to be heard and making specific findings of fact to support such determination, that control exists in fact, notwithstanding the absence of a presumption to that effect.

(11) Flexible premium contract--Any variable life contract other than a scheduled premium variable life contract as defined in the definition of scheduled premium variable life contract.

(12) General account--All assets of the insurer other than assets in separate accounts established under Insurance Code Chapter 1152, concerning Separate Accounts, Variable Contracts, and Related Products, or under the corresponding sections of the insurance laws of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer, whether or not for variable life insurance.

(13) Incidental insurance benefit--All insurance benefits in a variable life contract, other than the variable death benefit and the minimum death benefit, including, but not limited to, accidental death and dismemberment benefits, disability benefits, guaranteed insurability options, family income, or term riders.

(14) Minimum death benefit--The amount of the guaranteed death benefit, other than incidental insurance benefits, payable under a variable life contract regardless of the investment performance of the separate account.

(15) Net cash surrender value--The maximum amount payable to the contract owner upon surrender.

(16) Net investment return--The rate of investment return in a separate account to be applied to the benefit base.

(17) Person--An individual, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or fund.

(18) Scheduled premium contract--Any variable life contract under which both the amount and timing of premium payments are fixed by the insurer.

(19) Separate account--A separate account established under Insurance Code Chapter 1152, or under the corresponding section of the insurance laws of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer.

(20) Structural changes--Those changes that are separate from the automatic workings of the contract. Such changes usually would be initiated by the contract owner and include changes in the guaranteed benefits, changes in latest maturity date, or changes in allowable premium payment period.

(21) Variable death benefit--The amount of the death benefit, other than incidental benefits payable under a variable life contract dependent on the investment performance of the separate account, which the insurer would have to pay in the absence of any minimum death benefit.

(22) Variable life contract--Any individual variable life insurance contract that provides for life insurance the amount or duration of which varies according to the investment experience of any separate account or accounts established and maintained by the insurer as to such contract, under Insurance Code Chapter 1152, or under the corresponding section of the insurance laws of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer.

Source Note: The provisions of this §4.1502 adopted to be effective June 5, 1985, 10 TexReg 1676; amended to be effective May 11, 2022, 47 TexReg 2758; transferred effective September 1, 2023, as published in the July 28, 2023, issue of the Texas Register, 48 TexReg 4127; amended to be effective January 24, 2024, 49 TexReg 250