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Call Now: 904-383-7448The society may specify the manner of the election and which alternative is to be presumed if no election is made.
(Code 1981, §33-15-63, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1744, § 1.)
- Certificate issued by fraternal benefit association is essentially a contract of insurance, except that it is not controlled by the general insurance statutes of the state, and the rights and liabilities of the parties are governed accordingly, even though the certificate may constitute only a part of the contract between the association and the member and is to be construed with any pertinent provisions of the charter and bylaws which with the certificate will constitute the entire contract. Sovereign Camp, W.O.W. v. Lawson, 52 Ga. App. 345, 183 S.E. 137 (1935).
Where a certificate of insurance is issued by a voluntary fraternal benefit association, the provisions of former Code 1933, § 56-904 (see now O.C.G.A. § 33-25-2), that the application must be contained in or attached to the policy in order to be considered a part of the policy or contract between the parties, are not applicable, but this section controls. Sovereign Camp W.O.W. v. Reid, 53 Ga. App. 618, 186 S.E. 759 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, § 56-1610).
- Where a fraternal benefit association issues a life and total disability certificate, the legal rules governing the forfeiture of life and disability policies of insurance for fraud, misrepresentation, or breach of warranty by an insured, and waiver or estoppel against the insurer to forfeit or avoid policies for those reasons are applicable. Sovereign Camp, W.O.W. v. Lawson, 52 Ga. App. 345, 183 S.E. 137 (1935).
- A fraternal benefit association, like an insurance company, will be estopped from claiming a forfeiture or avoidance of a certificate of total disability insurance issued to a member for his alleged fraud, misrepresentation, or breach of warranty in his application or obtaining of the certificate, because of a misstatement or concealment of his true physical condition then existing, where, after the filing and with full knowledge of his claim of total disability as arising subsequent to the issuance of the certificate, and with knowledge of the facts constituting its defense that the contract was forfeited or avoided because the total disability existed at the time of the issuance of the certificate, the association nevertheless continued to receive from the holder and to retain the monthly premiums due under the certificate for more than a year after the filing of the claim and of the suit on the certificate by the member for the recovery of such total disability benefits. Sovereign Camp, W.O.W. v. Lawson, 52 Ga. App. 345, 183 S.E. 137 (1935).
- An agreement by a fraternal benefit society to pay a certain sum constitutes a contract which cannot be repudiated by the association by a subsequently enacted bylaw reducing the amount, even though the certificate made the payment conditional upon compliance with all existing or future enacted bylaws. Eminent Household of Columbian Woodmen v. Bryant, 59 Ga. App. 283, 200 S.E. 321 (1938), later appeal, 62 Ga. App. 167, 8 S.E.2d 438 (1940).
Cited in Lomax v. Woodmen of the World Life Ins. Soc'y, 228 F. Supp. 2d 1360 (N.D. Ga. 2002).
- 36 Am. Jur. 2d, Fraternal Orders and Benefit Societies, §§ 112, 121.
- 10 C.J.S., Beneficial Associations, §§ 28, 34.
No results found for Georgia Code 33-15-63.