Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

LIFE INSURANCE ACT 1995 - SECT 207

  (1)   The owner of:

  (a)   a policy in respect of which there is no contractual obligation on the owner to make any payments of premiums after the first year for which the policy is in force; or

  (b)   a policy (other than a policy referred to in paragraph   (a)) that has been in force for at least 3 years;

may request the company that issued the policy to surrender the policy.

  (2)   A request under subsection   (1) must be in writing.

  (3)   Subject to section   208, if the policy owner makes a request under subsection   (1), the company must pay to the policy owner an amount equal to the surrender value of the policy less the amount of any debt owed to the company under, or secured by, the policy.

  (4)   Subject to subsection   (6), if apart from this subsection, the surrender value of a policy at a particular time would be less than an amount calculated, for the purposes of this subsection, in accordance with the prudential standards, the last - mentioned amount is the surrender value of the policy at that time.

  (5)   Subsection   (6) applies to a life policy issued before the commencement of this Act and still in force immediately after that commencement.

  (6)   If, apart from this subsection, the surrender value of a policy under this Act would at any time be less than the adjusted pre - 1   July 1995 surrender value of the policy, the adjusted pre - 1   July 1995 surrender value of the policy is the surrender value of the policy for the purposes of this Act.

  (7)   In subsection   (6):

"adjusted pre-1 July 1995 surrender value" , in relation to a policy to which that subsection applies, means the surrender value of the policy immediately before 1   July 1995, adjusted for any transactions entered into on or after that date in relation to the policy that affected its surrender value.