§ 857. Investment in, or Continued Investment in, Life Insurance or Annuities
857. Investment in, or Continued Investment in, Life Insurance or Annuities.
(a) In this section, “life insurance company” means a stock or mutual legal reserve life insurance company that maintains the full legal reserves required under the laws of this state and that is licensed by the State Board of Insurance to transact the business of life insurance in this state.
(b) The guardian of the estate may invest in life, term, or endowment insurance policies, or in annuity contracts, or both, issued by a life insurance company or administered by the Veterans Administration, subject to conditions and limitations in this section.
(c) The guardian shall first apply to the court for an order that authorizes the guardian to make the investment. The application filed under this subsection must include a report that shows:
(1) in detail the financial condition of the estate at the time the application is made;
(2) the name and address of the life insurance company from which the policy or annuity contract is to be purchased and that the company is licensed by the State Board of Insurance to transact that business in this state on the date the application is filed, or that the policy or contract is administered by the Veterans Administration;
(3) a statement of the face amount and plan of the policy of insurance sought to be purchased and of the amount, frequency, and duration of the annuity payments to be provided by the annuity contract sought to be purchased;
(4) a statement of the amount, frequency, and duration of the premiums required by the policy or annuity contract; and
(5) a statement of the cash value of the policy or annuity contract at its anniversary nearest the 21st birthday of the ward, assuming that all premiums to the anniversary are paid and that there is no indebtedness against the policy or contract incurred in accordance with its terms.
(d) An insurance policy must be issued on the life of the ward, or the father, mother, spouse, child, brother, sister, grandfather, or grandmother of the ward or a person in whose life the ward may have an insurable interest.
(e) Only the ward, the ward's estate, or the father, mother, spouse, child, brother, sister, grandfather, or grandmother of the ward may be a beneficiary of the insurance policy and of the death benefit of the annuity contract, and the ward must be the annuitant in the annuity contract.
(f) The control of the policy or the annuity contract and of the incidents of ownership in the policy or annuity contract is vested in the guardian during the life and disability of the ward.
(g) The policy or annuity contract may not be amended or changed during the life and disability of the ward except on application to and order of the court.
(h) If a life, term, or endowment insurance policy or a contract of annuity is owned by the ward when a proceeding for the appointment of a guardian is begun, and it is made to appear that the company issuing the policy or contract of annuity is a life insurance company as defined by this section or the policy or contract is administered by the Veterans Administration, the policy or contract may be continued in full force and effect. All future premiums may be paid out of surplus funds of the ward's estate. The guardian shall apply to the court for an order to continue the policy or contract, or both, according to the existing terms of the policy or contract or to modify the policy or contract to fit any new developments affecting the welfare of the ward. Before any application filed under this subsection is granted, the guardian shall file a report in the court that shows in detail the financial condition of the ward's estate at the time the application is filed.
(i) The court, if satisfied by the application and the evidence adduced at the hearing that it is in the interests of the ward to grant the application, shall enter an order granting the application.
(j) A right, benefit, or interest that accrues under an insurance or annuity contract that comes under the provisions of this section shall become the exclusive property of the ward when the ward's disability is terminated.