American National’s exit from life insurance turns the usual term question inside out. Ordinarily the issue is whether the conversion privilege is still open. Here there is a second issue stacked on top of it: the company stopped accepting term applications in December 2023 and announced in 2025 that it would leave the life insurance business entirely, redirecting toward annuities, pension risk transfer and property-casualty lines. It has said it will continue servicing and honoring in-force policies. So the right to convert survives — but the menu of permanent plans available to convert into is now the question that decides everything.
Why this matters so much: a term policy has resale value only if it can become permanent coverage. A settlement buyer purchases a death benefit it expects to collect, and term is built to expire before the insured is statistically likely to die. Without a usable conversion right there is no asset, no bid, and no reason to hand anyone your medical records.
Below is the exact sequence — what to ask, whom to ask, in what order, and how to read the answers. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and a free policy review; it does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state.
In This Article
The timeline, and the obligation that survives it
American National Insurance Company was founded in Galveston, Texas in 1905 by W.L. Moody Jr. It is domiciled in Texas and regulated as to domicile by the Texas Department of Insurance, with New York business written through American National Life Insurance Company of New York under the New York State Department of Financial Services. Operating hubs include Springfield, Missouri and League City, Texas.
Three events shape where you now stand. In May 2022, Brookfield Reinsurance completed a $5.1 billion all-cash acquisition of American National Group at $190 per share, taking the company private. In December 2023 the company stopped accepting term life applications. In 2025 it announced a full exit from the life insurance business, with reporting on the decision citing a $243.4 million net loss for 2024. The company stated it would continue to service in-force policies without interruption and honor existing contracts.
Here is the legal point that matters to you. A conversion privilege is a term of the contract, not a marketing courtesy. Withdrawing from a market does not extinguish obligations already owed under policies in force, and state insurance departments supervise how a company discharges them. What a company in this position ordinarily does is designate one or more conversion products and keep the necessary filings current with the departments in each state so the obligation can be satisfied. What you must not do is assume you know which product that is, or what it costs.
Check the product name printed on your specification page as well. American National’s individual life shelf used a Signature family naming convention across term, whole life and universal life plans. Read the actual name and form number rather than relying on memory — where to find your policy cover page explains how to request a duplicate if you cannot locate the contract.
Locate your deadline, because it is earlier than you think
Individual term contracts express the conversion right as an earlier of test: the earlier of a stated number of policy years or a stated attained age of the insured. It is entirely routine across the industry for that door to close years before the level premium period ends, and nothing in a premium notice announces it.
Consider a 20-year level term issued at age 50 with a conversion right ending at attained age 65. Fifteen years of convertibility. Twenty years of coverage. At 67 the owner has three years of death benefit remaining, a perfectly valid policy, and no conversion right whatsoever.
Two additional conditions determine usability. Partial conversion, permitted by most contracts subject to a stated minimum face amount, is frequently the only affordable route when the converted premium at attained age is steep. And in-force status: conversion generally requires premiums to be current, so a policy sitting in its grace period can forfeit the right before the calendar deadline arrives. Keep the term premium paid while you work through this. The provision is explained in the term conversion rider.
The five questions to put in writing
Send one letter to the servicing address on your premium notice, cite the policy number and the insured’s date of birth, and ask for each of the following as a separate numbered item. Vague requests get vague answers.
- On what calendar date does the conversion privilege under this policy expire? A date, not a policy year you have to compute.
- Which permanent plans is this policy convertible into as of today? Ask for product names and form numbers, and ask specifically whether any conversion product is available given that the company no longer writes new life business.
- What is the annual premium for each available conversion plan at the insured’s current attained age, for the full face amount and for a partial conversion?
- Is evidence of insurability required? A genuine conversion privilege requires none. If the answer is yes, that is a new sale rather than a conversion, and it should be challenged against the contract language.
- Is the policy in force and paid to what date, and what is the current face amount?
Send it by a method that produces proof of delivery and keep a dated copy. If you receive no substantive response within about thirty days, the next step is a written complaint to the insurance department in your own state of residence — not Texas, unless you live there. State departments have complaint units precisely for this, and a documented request history is what makes such a complaint effective.
| Stage | What to do | Who acts | Realistic timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Locate the contract | Request a duplicate specification page and the conversion provision | You, in writing | 2 to 4 weeks |
| 2. Pin the deadline | Ask for the conversion expiry as a calendar date | Servicing company | Same letter |
| 3. Establish the menu | Ask which permanent plans are available today, with form numbers | Servicing company | 2 to 6 weeks on a closed block |
| 4. Price it | Get annual premium at attained age, full and partial | Servicing company | With the menu |
| 5. Escalate if ignored | File a written complaint with your own state insurance department | You | After about 30 days of silence |
Why unconvertible term has no buyer
A provider’s price is the death benefit discounted from its expected payment date, less the premiums it must fund until then, less its required return. Every element presumes the policy exists when the insured dies.
Unconvertible term breaks that. At the end of the level period the contract either terminates outright or renews annually at rates engineered to make continuation uneconomic; at advanced ages those renewals can absorb a substantial share of the face amount every year. There is also no cash surrender value to recover, since nonforfeiture values belong to permanent contracts, not to term. A buyer purchasing unconvertible term would be funding an asset scheduled to disappear.
This is why convertibility is the first thing a competent intermediary asks about. If a firm wants a signed HIPAA authorization, a Social Security number and your physicians’ names before establishing whether the policy can be converted at all, the sequence is backwards and you should decline. What a licensed life settlement provider is and is not permitted to do is worth understanding before signing anything, and the general screen for term is in can I sell a term life insurance policy.
If a conversion product is available: pricing the decision
Converting has a cost, and that cost lands on the buyer as much as on you. The converted policy’s premium is set at the insured’s attained age, and it becomes the ongoing obligation a buyer inherits — directly reducing what a buyer will pay for the same face amount.
Three features make the arithmetic work: a large face amount, an insured past 70 or carrying a documented impairment that shortens projected life expectancy, and a conversion target with a strong secondary guarantee. A guaranteed universal life design is the best conversion outcome for this purpose, because the premium required to keep the death benefit in force is a known contractual figure rather than a projection dependent on crediting rates. How those contracts behave in the market is covered in selling an American National guaranteed universal life policy.
Three features that sink it: a modest face amount, a healthy insured in their early sixties, and a conversion menu offering only an accumulation-oriented flexible-premium contract whose durability depends on assumptions rather than guarantees.
Sequence matters and getting it wrong wastes months. Confirm the right, get written product names and premiums, then evaluate. Offers are made on a permanent contract that exists, not on the prospect of creating one. The comparison is worked through in life settlement versus term conversion.
Allow extra time. Administrative turnaround on a block closed to new business tends to be slower, and conversion applications may route through a designated unit rather than a general service line. If your deadline falls inside the next twelve months, start immediately.
If the answer comes back no
If the conversion window has closed, or if no conversion product can be made available, the policy has essentially no market value. Say it plainly and redirect the effort.
- Read the rider schedule. Terminal illness accelerated death benefit riders are commonly attached to term contracts at no additional premium and pay an advance directly from the carrier on a qualifying diagnosis, with no sale and no third party. Most require physician certification of a life expectancy under 12 or 24 months.
- Decide about the premium on the merits. If the insured’s health has declined and years remain in the level period, continuing to pay is often the strongest value in the household budget. Unsellable and worthless are not the same thing.
- Document where the policy lives. Record the servicing company name, address and policy number with your estate papers. On a closed block, families searching under a familiar brand name routinely fail to locate a contract at claim time.
- Confirm the beneficiary designation in writing. It is the one element wholly within your control and a common source of avoidable loss.
- Inventory the rest of the household. A permanent contract elsewhere may be the one with real options.
The broader framework for term is in selling a term life policy. Pine Lake Life Solutions reviews policies at no cost and will tell you directly when there is nothing to pursue. It does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state.
Frequently Asked Questions
American National left the life business. Can I still convert my term policy?
The right itself survives, because a conversion privilege is a term of the contract rather than a marketing courtesy, and withdrawing from a market does not extinguish obligations under policies already in force. What is not automatic is the menu. Ask in writing which permanent plans the policy is convertible into today, with product names and form numbers, and what each costs at the insured’s attained age.
When did American National stop selling life insurance?
It stopped accepting term life applications in December 2023 and announced in 2025 that it would exit the life insurance business entirely, shifting toward annuities, pension risk transfer and property-casualty lines. Reporting on the decision cited a $243.4 million net loss for 2024. The company stated it would continue servicing in-force policies without interruption and honor existing contracts.
How do I find my conversion deadline?
Read the provision titled Conversion Privilege or Right to Convert. It states the deadline as the earlier of a number of policy years or an attained age of the insured, which is why the right frequently closes years before the level premium period ends. Then confirm the calendar date in writing with the servicing company, along with whether partial conversion is permitted and what minimum applies.
What if the company does not respond to my request?
Send the request by a method producing proof of delivery and keep a dated copy. If about thirty days pass without a substantive answer, file a written complaint with the insurance department in your own state of residence, attaching the correspondence. State departments maintain complaint units for exactly this situation, and a documented request history is what makes the complaint effective rather than merely annoying.
Why is a guaranteed universal life conversion better for resale value?
Because the premium required to keep the death benefit in force is a known contractual figure rather than a projection that depends on crediting rates and charges. A buyer inheriting a guaranteed contract knows precisely what it must fund, which reduces the risk premium it builds into an offer. Accumulation-oriented flexible-premium conversions leave that funding obligation uncertain and typically fetch less.
Is there any point keeping term I cannot sell or convert?
Often a great deal of point. If the insured’s health has declined and years remain in the level period, the expected value of the death benefit can far exceed the remaining premiums, which makes continuing one of the better uses of the money regardless of resale value. Check the rider schedule as well, since a terminal illness accelerated benefit pays from the carrier without any sale.
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Related Reading
- What Is A Term Conversion Rider
- Life Settlement Vs Term Conversion
- Can I Sell A Term Life Insurance Policy
- Sell Term Life Policy
- What Is Guaranteed Universal Life
- Sell My American National Guaranteed Universal Policy
- Where To Find Your Policy Cover Page
- What Is A Life Settlement Provider
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.