Sell Your Life Insurance Policy in Tennessee | 2026 Life Settlement Guide

You bought life insurance at one stage of your life. Maybe it was for family protection, a business agreement, or estate planning that never materialized. Now the policy is an illiquid asset with rising premiums and competing uses for cash.

In Tennessee, you can turn that policy into cash by selling it through a regulated life settlement. For older or medically impaired insureds, the payout is often many times higher than surrendering or lapsing the policy.

This guide explains how Tennessee regulates these transactions, what protections apply to sellers, and how pricing works in practice.

Is It Legal to Sell My Life Insurance in Tennessee?

Yes. Tennessee regulates life settlements under the Tennessee Viatical Settlement Act of 2009, codified in Title 56, Chapter 50 of the Tennessee Code.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance oversees the market. Life settlement providers and brokers must be licensed and comply with disclosure, escrow, and consumer protection requirements.

Tennessee imposes a two-year holding period—providers cannot purchase a policy issued within the prior two years unless an exception applies (such as terminal illness, divorce, disability, or retirement).

Tennessee guarantees a rescission right: you have 30 days after signing the contract to cancel the transaction, or 15 days after receiving the settlement proceeds—whichever comes first.

Settlement proceeds must be deposited into escrow and released within three business days of the carrier confirming the ownership transfer.

If someone wants to buy your policy and is not licensed as a provider under this framework, they are outside the regulated channel.

Who Buys Life Insurance Policies in Tennessee?

Your direct counterparty is a licensed life settlement provider regulated by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. These providers finance their portfolios using capital from institutions such as:

• Life settlement and viatical funds
• Pension funds and endowments
• Private equity and credit strategies
• Specialty asset managers and family offices

The transaction is straightforward:

You receive a lump-sum payment. The licensed provider assumes all future premiums. They collect the death benefit when the policy matures.

If you work with a broker, the broker represents you and shops the case to multiple providers. The providers are connected to the institutional capital that funds the purchase.

Safety Concerns And The Hitman Question

Every once in a while someone asks the blunt question. If I sell my policy to a fund that gets paid when I die, does that put a target on my back?

It is a natural worry, but it does not line up with how this market actually works. For a deeper look at why this concern is unfounded, see our article on the "hitman" question.

Real buyers are regulated institutions. Think pension funds, asset managers, specialist life settlement funds, and family offices that live under compliance, audits and regulators. They buy large pools of policies, not one or two bets on a single person. Your policy is a tiny piece of a diversified portfolio. No one is sitting in a room watching your file and waiting for news.

More importantly, crime would completely destroy the investment. If someone were foolish enough to try something like that, the claim would be frozen, law enforcement would be involved, and the policy would become radioactive. The buyer would lose their capital, their license and their business, and the people involved would be looking at serious prison time. That is the exact opposite of what professional investors want.

There are plenty of real risks in life. Selling a policy through a regulated life settlement process does not meaningfully change your exposure to violent crime. The buyer wants a clean, boring actuarial outcome, not drama. If this were a real world problem you would see patterns of cases and headlines over the last few decades. You do not, because serious firms do not play games with that line.

If this worry is on your mind, it is better to treat it as something to acknowledge and then put aside, not as a deciding factor in whether to explore a settlement.

Retained Death Benefit And What Happens If The Buyer Stops Paying

In some transactions you do not sell the entire policy. Instead, you take part in cash today and keep a slice of the future death benefit. That structure is usually called a retained death benefit. The buyer agrees to carry the full premium load and, when the insured passes away, your family gets the retained portion without ever having to write another check.

The obvious follow up question is what happens if the fund or buyer stops paying premiums in ten years. If the policy lapses, your retained benefit disappears with it. That is a real risk, and it belongs in the contract, not swept under the rug.

Well structured deals handle this with clear protections. Common approaches include giving you the right to step in and assume the policy if premiums are not paid on time, or if the fund winds down or fails. In practice that can mean a clause that says if premiums are not funded by a certain date, ownership can revert or you can elect to take over and keep the policy in force by paying premiums yourself. Serious buyers also use professional servicing companies and advance notice requirements so you, your adviser, or your lawyer get notified long before coverage is at risk.

The point is that you do not have to simply hope the fund behaves. You can ask, in plain language, what happens if premiums are not paid, when you are notified, and what your rights are to step back in. If you are doing any kind of retained death benefit, those answers should be written into the settlement documents before you sign, so your family is not relying on a handshake twenty years from now.

How Much Is My Policy Worth in Tennessee?

There is no fixed schedule. Pricing is case by case. Main factors include:

• Age of the insured
• Health and life expectancy
• Policy type and structure
• Required premiums over time
• Carrier strength and historical performance

For Tennessee seniors with qualifying policies, offers commonly fall in a range between roughly 15 and 50 percent of the death benefit. Policies with significant health impairments and efficient premium structures typically receive stronger pricing.

Example ranges:

Illustrative examples; may not reflect the value of your policy.

$1,000,000 Universal Life, 79F with CHF + diabetes

• Surrender value: $31,000
• Settlement offer: $350,000

About 35% of face value and more than 10x surrender value.

$2,300,000 Universal Life, 83M with moderate cardiac disease

• Surrender value: $62,000
• Settlement offer: $1,000,000

Roughly 43% of face value. Clean policy structure and favorable premium economics.

$300,000 Convertible Term, 74M, cancer survivor now stable

• Surrender value: $0
• Settlement offer: $120,000

The policy has no surrender value but real value when converted and priced properly.

Real bids vary with each medical update and premium projection. A policy that looks like a cost center to you can still be a valuable asset to a professional buyer.

Tennessee's Two-Year Holding Period

Tennessee treats it as a prohibited practice for a licensed provider to enter into a life settlement contract based on a policy issued within the prior two years, unless specific conditions apply.

In plain terms:

• If the policy has been in force at least two years, it is generally eligible to be sold through a regulated life settlement process
• If it has been in force less than two years, a regulated Tennessee provider cannot purchase it unless you qualify for an exception

Exceptions include:

• Terminal or chronic illness diagnosed after issue
• Death of a spouse
• Divorce
• Retirement from full-time work
• Disability that prevents full-time work
• Major unexpected drop in income affecting ability to pay premiums
• Sale of a closely held business interest

For policies converted from a group or prior individual policy, Tennessee considers combined coverage time. If you have at least 24 months of continuous coverage across the old policy and conversion, you can still meet the requirement.

Consumer Protections in Tennessee

Tennessee's regulatory framework includes several protections that affect real transactions.

Licensing

Providers, brokers, and settlement investment agents need Tennessee licenses and must meet financial and antifraud standards.

Disclosures

Before you sign, the provider and any broker must give you written disclosures explaining:

• Alternatives to selling
• Possible tax and benefit impacts
• Your rescission right and how to use it
• How funds will be handled and whether escrow is being used

Escrow and Payment

Settlement proceeds must be deposited into an independent escrow or trust account. Funds are released to you within three business days after the insurance company confirms the ownership and beneficiary changes have been processed.

Rescission

Tennessee provides a defined right to change your mind:

• You can rescind a life settlement contract until the earlier of:
  • 30 calendar days after all parties sign the contract, or
  • 15 calendar days after you receive the settlement proceeds
• To rescind, you must give notice within that window and return the proceeds plus any premiums, loans, and related interest the provider paid

Medical Review Timing

Tennessee requires that life expectancy reports be based on medical records obtained within a recent window—typically three months for standard cases or one month for shorter life expectancies. This ensures pricing reflects current health status rather than outdated information.

How the Tennessee Life Settlement Process Works

Step

What Happens

Timeline

What to Do Next

Selling a life insurance policy in Tennessee follows a regulated process with clear consumer protections. If you are considering a life settlement, the typical path involves: