O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10 (2019)

Payment of interest on proceeds or payments under policies

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) Each insurer admitted to transact life insurance in this state shall pay interest on proceeds or payments under any individual policy of life insurance, payable to a beneficiary residing in this state or to a beneficiary under a policy issued in this state or to a beneficiary under a policy insuring a person resident in this state at the time of death.

(b) Interest payable pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be computed from the insured’s death until the date of payment and shall be at the following rate of interest:

(1) In the event an action to recover the proceeds due under such policy is commenced and results in a judgment against the insurer, interest shall be computed at the legal rate of interest; or

(2) In the event no such action has been commenced, interest shall be computed daily at the greater of the rate of 6 percent per annum or the highest interest rate currently paid by the insurer on proceeds left under an interest settlement option; provided, however, that when a claim for the policy proceeds is filed with the insurer, interest shall be computed daily from 30 days after the date the claim is filed until the date of payment at the rate of 12 percent.

(1) Apply to proceeds under any such policy paid within 30 days after the date of death of the insured;

(2) Require the payment of interest in an amount of less than $5.00;

(3) Apply to policies of credit life insurance;

(4) Require the payment of interest for any period during which an insurer is required to pay interest under any state or federal law pertaining to interpleader; or

(5) Apply to any individual policy issued within 12 months of the death of the insured.

(d) For the purposes of this Code section, payment shall be deemed to have been received by a resident when manually delivered by an agent or representative of the insuring company or when deposited by the insuring company in the United States mail, postage prepaid, and directed to the resident at his last known address as evidenced by the business records of the insuring company.

(e)(1) For the purposes of this Code section, a claim shall be deemed to have been filed with an insurer on the date that the insurer receives a substantially completed application or other written notice for the policy proceeds and reasonable proof of death of the insured.

(2) In cases of group life insurance, a claim shall be deemed to have been filed on the date that the insurer receives the information provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection and receives from the group policyholder written evidence of eligibility for coverage.

History

Code 1933, § 56-2503.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 2297, § 1; Ga.

L. 1991, p. 1055, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1293, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 91, § 33.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS No prejudgment interest if insured dies within 12 months of issuance of policy. - O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10 governs the entitlement to prejudgment interest on life insurance proceeds and does not require the payment of prejudgment interest when the insured dies within 12 months of issuance of the policy. Southwestern Life v. Middle Ga. Neurological, 262 Ga. 273, 416 S.E.2d 496 (1992). In an insurer’s 28 U.S.C. § 1335 interpleader suit to determine whether a trust, a decedent’s children with his first wife, or the decedent’s second wife and

any children they may have had together were entitled to the decedent’s life insurance policy proceeds, the trust, which was determined to be entitled to the proceeds, was not entitled to interest under O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10(b)(2) as that statute specifically stated that interest on policy proceeds did not accrue during the pendency of an interpleader action. Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Alembik-Eisner, 582 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (N.D. Ga. 2008). Cited in Equicor, Inc. v. Stamey, 216 Ga. App. 375, 454 S.E.2d 550 (1995).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Who are ‘‘blood relatives’’ within statute or rules as to beneficiaries of insurance in mutual benefit societies, 10 A.L.R. 864.

Liability of insurer for damages resulting from delay in passing upon an application for life insurance, 1 A.L.R.4th 1202.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases, 1991–2016 · leading case: Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am. v. Crutchfield, 568 S.E.2d 767 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002).

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Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am. v. Crutchfield, 568 S.E.2d 767 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). · cites it 4× “OCGA § 33-25-10. See also OCGA § 33-27-4.”

Flynt v. Life of the South Ins. Co., 718 S.E.2d 343 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 4× “4 OCGA § 33-25-10 governs the entitlement to prejudgment interest on life insurance proceeds, see Southwestern Life Ins.”

Equicor, Inc. v. Stamey, 454 S.E.2d 550 (Ga. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 6× “OCGA § 33-25-10, which governs the payment of interest on proceeds or payments under life insurance policies, clearly contemplates situations where the insured is deceased; it requires the computation of interest from the date of the insured’s death until the date of payment.”

Sw. Life Ins. v. Middle Georgia Neurological Specialists, 416 S.E.2d 496 (Ga. 1992). · cites it 4× “id to be effective and from which future premium payments were to be calculated, is the failure of actual delivery of the policy of insurance fatal to contract formation so as to render coverage ineffective? (2) When [the insured dies within twelve months of issuance of the…”

Nat'l Life Ins. v. Alembik-Eisner, 582 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (N.D. Ga. 2008). · cites it 3× “The Trustee also claims interest under O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10(b)(2) which provides that when no action has been commenced to recover proceeds due under a policy, but a claim has been filed with the insurer, the insurer must pay interest at a rate of 12 percent beginning 30 days…”

Garrison v. Jackson Nat'l Life Ins., 908 F. Supp. 2d 1293 (N.D. Ga. 2012). · cites it 7× “Count Four: Payment of Statutory Interest Georgia law requires every insurer that provides life insurance policies to pay interest to the beneficiary “on proceeds or payments under any individual policy of life insurance,” O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10(a), “from the insured’s death until…”

Middle Georgia Neurological Specialists, P.C., Cross-Appellants v. Sw. Life Ins. Co., Cross-Appellee, 946 F.2d 776 (11th Cir. 1991). · cites it 2× “” In its motion for reconsideration, Southwestern persuaded the district court that its award of prejudgment interest was error, arguing that the district court should have applied O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10 (1990), which states as follows: (a) Each insurer admitted to transact life…”

In re Est. of Barr, 630 S.E.2d 135 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). “3 Applying OCGA § 53-4-61 to the case at hand, we conclude that the probate court did not abuse its equitable discretion in awarding prejudgment interest on the general testamentary gift made to appellee. Under subsection (b) of OCGA § 53-4-61, the requirement that prejudgment…”

Owens v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 210 F. Supp. 3d 1344 (N.D. Ga. 2016). · cites it 6× “O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10 requires payment of postmortem interest, which is computed based on the date of payment of life insurance benefits by the insurer.”

Middle Georgia Neurological Specialists, P.C., Cross-Appellants v. Sw. Life Ins. Co., Cross-Appellee, 967 F.2d 536 (11th Cir. 1992). · cites it 4× “act, but the issued policy specified a date certain on which coverage was said to be effective and from which future premium payments were to be calculated, is the failure of actual delivery of the policy of insurance fatal to *537 contract formation so as to render the coverage…”

— 33-25-10(a) — 2 cases

Garrison v. Jackson Nat'l Life Ins., 908 F. Supp. 2d 1293 (N.D. Ga. 2012). “Count Four: Payment of Statutory Interest Georgia law requires every insurer that provides life insurance policies to pay interest to the beneficiary “on proceeds or payments under any individual policy of life insurance,” O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10(a), “from the insured’s death until…”

Owens v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 210 F. Supp. 3d 1344 (N.D. Ga. 2016). “O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10 requires payment of postmortem interest, which is computed based on the date of payment of life insurance benefits by the insurer.”

— 33-25-10(b) — 1 case

— 33-25-10(b)(2) — 1 case

Nat'l Life Ins. v. Alembik-Eisner, 582 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (N.D. Ga. 2008). “The Trustee also claims interest under O.C.G.A. § 33-25-10(b)(2) which provides that when no action has been commenced to recover proceeds due under a policy, but a claim has been filed with the insurer, the insurer must pay interest at a rate of 12 percent beginning 30 days…”

— 33-25-10(b)(l) — 1 case

— 33-25-10(c) — 1 case

— 33-25-10(d) — 2 cases

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.