This case is a must read for any individual or corporate trustee of an ILIT. As discussed in the July 1 2011 of Financial Planning, Jay J. Freireich summarizes in his article "Earning Trust": "The recent case in Indiana of Stuart Cochran Irrevocable Trust vs. KeyBank highlights the risk that trustees face when dealing with prudent management of trust-owned life insurance. In that case, a trustee was sued by the beneficiaries of an irrevocable life insurance trust for alleged violation of... [more]

In LISI Estate Planning Newsletter #1486, Patrick J. Lannon and Barry D. Flagg discussed In re Stuart Cochran Irrevocable Trust, a case involving a claim of breach of fiduciary duty against an ILIT trustee. In Part 2, Barry D. Flagg and Patti S. Spencer discuss Cochran from the perspective how trustees managing trust-owned life insurance (TOLI) can avoid this kind of litigation altogether by applying "best-practices" from the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The... [more]

"This case is a must-read for any individual or corporate trustee of an ILIT." While many trustees are facing increased scrutiny of their investment performance in these difficult economic times, trustees of trusts holding life insurance (often referred to as irrevocable life insurance trusts, or "ILITs")[1] face additional challenges in their management of this "special asset". Acknowledging the potentially serious trustee liability, a few states have passed legislation that reduces the... [more]

This article is cited from Steve Leimberg's Estate Planning Newsletter, June 29 2009. The topics of due care for trust-owned life insurance (TOLI) and liability of irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) trustees have been discussed quite frequently in LISI. For instance, Patrick Lannon has discussed in LISI Estate Planning Newsletter# 1342, ILIT trustee liability and state statutes specifically reducing liability for ILIT trustees. On the other hand, Barry Flagg has provided subscribers with... [more]

According to InvestmentNews, June 23, 2008 issue, investors might find it easier to sue insurance agents and carriers, thanks to new standards from the Certified Financial Planner Board. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has updated the Standards of Professional Conduct with two main provisions: CFP holders are required to place the clients' interests ahead of their own at ALL times (or disclose limitations when they cannot), and certificants must...act as fiduciaries to... [more]

The wealth management business is poised to add another component of wealth to the management process - the $3 trillion in life insurance policy cash values. To put the magnitude of this opportunity into perspective, the amount of money in life insurance policy accounts is more than that in Hedge funds, Separately-Managed Accounts, and Exchange-Traded Funds combined and equates to almost 1/3rd of the massive $11 Trillion Mutual Fund Industry. The life insurance portfolio management opportunity ... [more]

A complaint in which plaintiff "claims that Merrill Lynch 'breached its fiduciary and contractual duties' in the management of his assets [involving] whole life insurance policies…" 

You can read a newspaper article about the case here, or see the docket filing here.

Veralytic (under its original name, THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM / TIA) was featured in an article written by Mary Rowland in the January 2008 issue of Financial Advisor. Mary Rowland has written for Bloomberg Wealth Manager, The New York Times, and is an author of six books, including In Search of the Perfect Model. In this article she concludes that "what we need is an objective rating system that allows even someone who doesn't know how to tear apart a policy to compare life insurance, and that... [more]

A case in which the plaintiff (Larry King) charges an insurance broker with breach of fiduciary duty in the mis-management of certain life insurance policy holdings so as to disproportionately benefit the broker while not properly considering the financial condition, health, and the likelihood of future uninsurability of the plaintiff.

Click Here to read the article.

Veralytic (under its original name, THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM) was featured in the February/March 2007 issue of @ Regulatory – a regular bimonthly publication by Deloitte & Touche. This particular issue included a briefing on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NIAC) Viatical Model Regulation. This Model Regulation was amended in December 2006 to make it applicable to both viatical settlements and life settlements. While Viatical settlements allow a terminally ill person... [more]