Florida Laws — Life Insurance

Disclosure — Buyer's Guide & Policy Summary

Two documents anchor Florida life disclosure. The Buyer's Guide is the generic educational tool: features and benefits of life insurance, the product types, and how to save money by comparing the cost of similar policies. The policy summary is the specific one: the applied policy's coverage, provisions, and benefits, delivered before or on the policy delivery date and always available on request. The timing rule the exam tests: if the insurer provides no free look period, the Buyer's Guide AND a policy summary must be provided before an initial premium is paid.

Advertising & Sales — F.S. 626.9531

Every ad an agent, producer, broker, or solicitor uses must be approved by the insurer — publications, notices, circulars, pamphlets, letters, posters, radio, and TV all count, while training material, internal communications, and group-negotiation correspondence do not. Disclosures must be conspicuous and connected to what they explain, and the insurer keeps a complete ad file in its home office for 4 years (or until the next regular report/examination, whichever is longer). The prohibited practices list: no misleading omissions; policy names must contain or end with "Insurance Policy" or "Annuity"; renewability/termination/modification terms must be disclosed; no unfair or incomplete comparisons or competitor disparagement; testimonials must be genuine and current; the insurer's legal name (never a confusing trade or parent name) appears in every ad; form numbers appear in invitations to contract; no government-lookalike materials; and no untrue claims about assets, structure, or financial standing.

Suitability, Best Interest & Annuity Training

Florida insurers must maintain standards, procedures, and a supervision system so that recommendations resulting in life or annuity transactions actually address the consumer's needs and objectives. A recommendation is advice that would result in a purchase, exchange, or replacement based on that advice, and it must rest on the twelve items of suitability information — age, income, financial situation, experience, objectives, intended use, time horizon, existing assets, liquidity needs, liquid net worth, risk tolerance, and tax status. The agent training rule: as of January 1, 2024, annuity sellers need a one-time 4-hour course (not CE); agents already holding life authority had until July 1, 2024 — with a 1-hour top-up option if they had prior annuity training — and anyone licensed after January 1, 2024 cannot sell annuities until trained.

Policy Replacement & Conservation

A replacement occurs when a new policy is purchased and the seller knows an existing contract will be lapsed/forfeited/surrendered, converted to reduced paid-up or extended-term (or otherwise drained of value), amended downward, or reissued with less cash value or in a financed purchase. The replacing agent must present the Notice Regarding Replacement (signed by applicant AND agent, copy left at application), obtain a list of every policy being replaced with policy numbers and company names, leave all sales materials, and disclose possible tax consequences. The replacing insurer collects that list and notice, notifies each existing insurer in writing immediately upon receiving the application, includes a policy summary or ledger statement, and provides a written comparison at the owner's request. That advance notice enables conservation — the existing insurer's legal effort to contact the client and keep the policy.

Individual Contracts — Standard Provisions, Nonforfeiture & Settlement

Florida's individual-contract overlay: proceeds paid to a named beneficiary enjoy protection from creditors (payable to the estate, they lose it), and cash values and annuity proceeds resist attachment and garnishment. Policy loan interest is capped at a fixed 10% — or an adjustable rate leashed to Moody's corporate bond index. The Florida free look: 14 days for life, 21 days for fixed AND variable annuities. The individual grace period is at least 30 days, with up to 8% per year interest on the late premium — die during grace and the premium-plus-interest comes out of the death benefit. Owners can always change a beneficiary unless the designation is irrevocable, and — for insureds age 64+ — a secondary addressee can be named to also receive lapse notices (mailed at least 21 days before the grace period ends). And divorce voids a pre-dissolution designation naming the now-ex-spouse — proceeds pass as if the former spouse predeceased the insured (F.S. 732.703), unless the designation was re-signed after the divorce, court-ordered, or irrevocable. The three standard nonforfeiture options (F.S. 627.476): reduced paid-up, cash surrender value, extended-term. At death, settlement follows proof of death plus surrender of the policy — lump sums earn interest from the date written proof of death is received, and installment policies must print the installment table.

Group Life — Eligible Groups & Standard Provisions

Almost any group formed for a purpose other than obtaining insurance can qualify — employer, union, trade association, creditor/debtor, fraternal — and while the original minimum was 50 lives, the NAIC now sets no minimum and insurers cover groups under 10. Florida's eligible group types carry fine print: debtor-group coverage never exceeds the debt, association groups need 2 years of existence, annual meetings, and 100 participating members if contributory, and credit-union coverage equals the member's share balance. Required provisions (F.S. 627.558–.565): a 31-day grace period (death during grace is covered), 2-year incontestability except nonpayment, the application attached with all statements as representations — not warranties, stated conditions for evidence of insurability, an equitable misstatement-of-age adjustment, facility of payment (up to $2,000 to whoever bore funeral or last-illness costs when no beneficiary survives), individual certificates for every member, and notice to every certificate holder when the master policy dies.

Conversion Rights, Employee Life & Assignment

Every Florida group life policy carries a conversion privilege — an individual policy with no evidence of insurability. Trigger one: employment (eligibility) ends → first premium due within 31 days after termination, at the insurer's customary individual rate. Trigger two: the group policy or a class terminates → members (and insured dependents) covered at least 5 years may convert, capped at the lesser of the coverage lost or $10,000. And if a member dies during the conversion period, the convertible amount pays as a death benefit under the group policy. Dependent coverage for spouse and children may never exceed the employee's own amount. The employee life rules: the policy benefits someone other than the employer, eligibility runs by employment-based classes, the policyholder pays the insurer (funds from employer, employee, or both), noncontributory plans cover ALL eligible employees, and coverage amounts must follow a plan precluding individual selection. Finally, insured members may assign all or part of their ownership (F.S. 627.552–.571) — including the conversion privilege and the right to name a beneficiary.