August 5, 2026
9:49 pm

How to Request an In-Force Illustration (Word for Word)

You can request an in-force illustration yourself, for free, by calling the number on your premium notice and asking for it by name — but the request only produces something useful if you specify which illustration you want, and there are at least three different ones a carrier can run. Ask vaguely and you will get a single sheet showing current assumptions that tells you almost nothing about the risk in the policy. Ask precisely and you will get the document that answers the only question that matters: what will it actually cost to keep this policy alive, and until when?

An in-force illustration is a carrier-produced projection of a specific policy from today forward. It shows premiums, accumulation value, surrender value, and death benefit year by year, under assumptions the carrier states on the page. It is the single most informative document in life insurance, and it is the document families almost never have when they are trying to decide whether to keep, reduce, surrender, or sell a policy.

This page gives you a script to read over the phone, a written version to send, the three specific scenarios to request, how to read what comes back, and how the answer feeds into the wider decision. It also says plainly when the illustration will tell you to keep the policy. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and free policy reviews and is not affiliated with any carrier.

In This Article

What an In-Force Illustration Is (and Is Not)
The Three Illustrations You Should Ask For
The Phone Script, Word for Word
The Written Version, If You Would Rather Send It
Who Can Request One, and What If You Are Not the Owner
How to Read What Comes Back
What the Illustration Tells You to Do Next
If You Want Help Reading It
Frequently Asked Questions

How to Request an In-Force Illustration (Word for Word)

What an In-Force Illustration Is (and Is Not)

At issue, you received a sales illustration — a projection built on the assumptions in force when the policy was sold. An in-force illustration is different. It starts from the policy’s actual current values: today’s accumulation value, today’s loan balance, the insured’s attained age, and the carrier’s current cost of insurance and crediting rates. It projects forward from reality rather than from a decades-old sales assumption.

The NAIC’s Life Insurance Illustrations Model Regulation, adopted in some form by most states, governs how these documents must be prepared and requires that a guaranteed-basis presentation accompany any non-guaranteed one. That requirement is the reason you can insist on seeing the guaranteed column, and the guaranteed column is where the bad news lives on flexible-premium policies.

What an in-force illustration is not: a valuation, a statement of what your policy is worth to anyone else, or a prediction. Non-guaranteed columns are illustrations of what would happen if current assumptions never changed, and on universal life they frequently do change. Treat the guaranteed column as the floor and the current column as an optimistic scenario, and plan somewhere between.

The Three Illustrations You Should Ask For

One document is not enough. Request all three, in the same call, and ask for them in writing.

1. Current premium as billed, current assumptions. The baseline: what happens if you keep paying exactly what you pay now and the carrier’s current cost of insurance and crediting rates never change. This shows the year the policy would lapse, if it would.

2. Guaranteed assumptions. The same premium, but assuming the carrier charges the guaranteed maximum cost of insurance and credits the guaranteed minimum interest rate. On a universal life policy issued in the 1990s or 2000s, this column often shows lapse ten or fifteen years earlier than the current-assumption version. That gap is the real risk you carry.

3. Minimum premium to carry the policy to a target age. Ask specifically: what is the minimum annual premium required to maintain the policy to age 95, to age 100, and to maturity, on both current and guaranteed assumptions? This is the number that tells a family whether keeping the policy is financially possible. It is also the number a secondary-market analysis is built around, because premium load drives everything.

The Phone Script, Word for Word

Call the policyholder service number on your premium notice or annual statement. Have the policy number and the insured’s date of birth in front of you. Then say this:

“Hello. I am the owner of policy number [number], insuring [name], date of birth [date]. I would like to request in-force illustrations, and I need three scenarios. First, current premium as billed on current assumptions. Second, the same premium on guaranteed assumptions — guaranteed maximum cost of insurance and guaranteed minimum crediting rate. Third, the minimum premium required to carry the policy to age 95, to age 100, and to maturity, shown on both current and guaranteed bases. Please include the current accumulation value, current cash surrender value, any surrender charge remaining, any outstanding loan balance and accrued interest, and a list of all riders on the contract. Please send them by mail and by email, and please give me a reference number for this request and the expected turnaround time.”

Then ask one more question: “Is there anything about this policy — a no-lapse guarantee, a secondary guarantee, or a rider — that would change how I should read these numbers?” Service representatives will often volunteer the single most important fact about the contract in response to that question.

The Written Version, If You Would Rather Send It

Some carriers require a written or secure-message request, and a written request creates a record either way. Send it through the carrier’s policyholder portal secure-message function, or by mail to the service address on the statement. Keep it short:

“Re: Policy [number], insured [name], DOB [date]. As policy owner, I request in-force illustrations for the above policy in three scenarios: (1) current billed premium, current assumptions; (2) current billed premium, guaranteed assumptions; (3) minimum premium to maintain the policy to ages 95, 100, and maturity, on both current and guaranteed bases. Please also provide the current accumulation value, cash surrender value, remaining surrender charge, outstanding loan balance with accrued interest, and a schedule of riders. Please confirm receipt and provide an expected delivery date. Signature, printed name, date, and daytime phone.”

Expect a turnaround of roughly one to three weeks in 2026, though simple whole life illustrations often come back faster and complex variable or survivorship contracts can take longer. If nothing arrives in three weeks, call with the reference number. Persistent non-response is a matter your state insurance department’s consumer services division will take up.

Scenario to Request	What It Shows	Why You Need It
Current premium, current assumptions	Projection if nothing changes	The optimistic baseline; shows the projected lapse year
Current premium, guaranteed assumptions	Projection at guaranteed maximum charges	The real downside; often lapses 10-15 years earlier
Minimum premium to age 95 / 100 / maturity	The cost to keep the policy alive	Tells you whether keeping it is financially possible
Current values page	Accumulation value, surrender value, surrender charge	Sets the floor any other option must beat
Loan and interest detail	Outstanding loan and accrued interest	Reduces net death benefit and any potential offer
Rider schedule	Riders attached to the contract	May reveal an accelerated death benefit you already paid for

The Written Version, If You Would Rather Send It

Who Can Request One, and What If You Are Not the Owner

Carriers release illustrations to the policy owner, to the owner’s authorized representative, and to an agent of record. If your parent owns the policy and you are helping, the carrier will generally require either a signed authorization from the owner, a valid power of attorney that includes insurance transactions, or documentation of a guardianship or conservatorship.

If the owner is a trust, the trustee makes the request and the carrier will want the certification of trust or the relevant trust pages. If the owner is a business, an officer with authority makes the request. If the insured has capacity issues and no power of attorney exists, that is a legal problem to solve before the paperwork problem — an elder law attorney is the right resource, and this page is not legal advice.

One practical note: adding a third party as an authorized contact on the policy file, which most carriers allow with a simple signed form, saves enormous friction on every future request. Do that once, early.

How to Read What Comes Back

Turn to the guaranteed-assumptions illustration first and find the year the cash surrender value hits zero. That is the year the policy lapses on guarantees. If that year is before the insured’s realistic life expectancy, the policy is at risk no matter what the current-assumption page shows.

Next, compare the minimum-premium-to-age-100 figure against the household budget. If the required premium is rising steeply — which it does on universal life, because the cost of insurance is charged per thousand of net amount at risk and climbs with attained age — the trajectory is more important than this year’s number.

Then look at three details that quietly change everything: any outstanding loan, which reduces the net death benefit and compounds; any surrender charge still remaining, which drags down the surrender option; and any no-lapse or secondary guarantee, which may keep the death benefit in force even when the account value goes to zero, provided the specified premium was paid on time every year. A missed or late payment can permanently break a no-lapse guarantee, so check the guarantee status explicitly.

What the Illustration Tells You to Do Next

The illustration is not the decision — it is the input that makes the decision honest. Lay the options next to it:

Keep it. If the minimum premium is affordable and someone depends on the death benefit, keep it. The illustration will often show that a modest premium increase secures the policy for life, which is the cheapest possible outcome.
Reduced paid-up or a lower face amount. Most permanent policies allow a reduction. Cutting the death benefit cuts the cost of insurance and can make an unaffordable policy sustainable without any sale.
Accelerated death benefit rider. The rider schedule in the illustration packet will show whether one exists. Using a rider you already own beats every transaction.
1035 exchange. Move cash value tax-free into a lower-cost contract or a hybrid long-term care policy.
Policy loan. Cash without ending coverage, at the cost of compounding interest and a reduced net death benefit.
Life settlement. For a qualifying policy, historically 10% to 35% of face value and roughly four to eight times cash surrender value on average per the GAO’s market study (GAO-10-775).
Surrender. The floor, and usually the least money available.

A settlement is the wrong answer when the illustration shows the policy is cheap to keep, when heirs need the coverage, or when reduced paid-up preserves more real value than a small offer would.

If You Want Help Reading It

An in-force illustration can run twenty pages of columns, and carriers do not annotate them. If you want a second set of eyes, a free policy review starts with the policy cover page — the first page showing insurer, policy number, face amount, issue date, and policy type — and the illustration can follow if the policy looks like a candidate.

There is no cost and no obligation, and if the numbers point toward keeping or reducing the policy rather than selling it, that is what you will hear. Send the cover page or call (305) 209-7183.

Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and free policy reviews and is not affiliated with any carrier. This page is general information, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm all policy values and guarantee status directly with the issuing carrier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does an in-force illustration cost anything?

Carriers generally provide in-force illustrations to the policy owner at no charge, and many states require them to be furnished on request. If a carrier says there is a fee, ask for the basis in the contract. What costs money is not asking, then discovering the policy was going to lapse.

How long does it take to receive one?

Plan on roughly one to three weeks in 2026. Straightforward whole life illustrations often arrive faster; variable, indexed, and survivorship contracts can take longer. Always ask for a reference number and an expected delivery date so you have something to follow up on.

Why do I need the guaranteed-assumption version?

Because it is the only version that shows what the carrier can actually do under the contract. The current-assumption illustration assumes today’s cost of insurance and crediting rates continue indefinitely, and on universal life they often do not. The gap between the two columns is the risk you are carrying.

Can I request an illustration if my parent owns the policy?

Only with authority. Carriers release illustrations to the owner, an authorized representative on file, an agent of record, or someone holding a valid power of attorney covering insurance transactions. Adding yourself as an authorized contact on the policy file with a signed form makes every future request far easier.

What is a no-lapse guarantee and why does it change how I read the numbers?

A no-lapse or secondary guarantee keeps the death benefit in force even if the account value falls to zero, as long as a specified premium was paid on schedule. Because a missed or late payment can permanently break the guarantee, ask the carrier directly whether the guarantee is currently intact and through what age.

The illustration shows the policy lapsing in eight years. What are my options?

Broadly: pay more to keep it, reduce the death benefit so it costs less, convert to reduced paid-up if the contract allows, exchange the cash value into a cheaper contract, surrender it, or sell it if it qualifies. Which is best depends on whether anyone still needs the coverage and what the premium would be.

Is an in-force illustration required to sell a policy?

Yes, in practice. A buyer prices a policy from its actual projected premium load and values, which only the in-force illustration provides. An initial free review, however, needs only the policy cover page, so you can find out whether the policy is a candidate before requesting the illustration.

Should the illustration change my mind about keeping the policy?

Often it should, in both directions. Many families discover a modest premium increase secures a policy for life, which is the cheapest good outcome available. Others discover the required premium doubles within a decade, which reframes the whole decision honestly rather than emotionally.

Find out what your policy is worth — free, confidential, no obligation.

A 15-minute educational review covers your eligibility, every alternative, and a realistic view of what each path would net you.

Call (305) 209-7183 · Request a review online →

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