Can You Sell an Assurity Final Expense or Burial Policy? (2026)

Why $100,000 Is the Line, and Why It Does Not Move

A life settlement is a real transaction with real transaction costs. Before an offer can even be made, a buyer typically commissions two independent life expectancy reports from underwriting firms, pays to retrieve and abstract the insured’s medical records, obtains a verification of coverage from the carrier, funds an escrow agent, and runs legal review of the assignment and the ownership chain. Those costs are largely fixed. They are essentially identical on a $20,000 policy and a $2,000,000 policy.

That is why the floor exists and why it does not flex for individual cases. A buyer who spends five thousand dollars in diligence to acquire a $20,000 death benefit has destroyed the economics before the first premium is paid. Our page on the minimum policy size for a life settlement goes through the arithmetic in more detail.

Be skeptical of anyone who tells you otherwise about a burial policy. An offer to buy a $10,000 final expense policy for a few hundred dollars, or a company that wants an upfront fee to shop one, is a signal to stop. There is no legitimate business model there.

What an Assurity Small-Face Life Contract Generally Looks Like

Final expense products across the industry, Assurity’s included, share a common shape: whole life, level premium, small face amount, simplified or guaranteed issue, and designed so the death benefit roughly covers a funeral rather than replacing income. The National Funeral Directors Association’s published median for a funeral with viewing and burial was about $8,300 in its 2023 report, and closer to $10,000 once a vault is included, which is why the $10,000 to $15,000 face amount is so common.

Rather than assert a current product name, read the cover page of your own contract. It shows the product name, the form number, the issue date, the face amount, and the premium. Then check three things in the contract itself: whether premiums are payable for your whole life or stop at a stated age such as 100 or 121; whether the death benefit is level from day one or graded; and whether the policy contains any riders. Those three answers determine everything that follows.

Assurity’s broader business is weighted toward disability income, critical illness, and accident coverage, with life sold in simplified-issue form. If you also hold a larger permanent Assurity contract, that one is a different conversation entirely — see selling an Assurity whole life policy.

Graded Death Benefit: The Provision People Misread

Guaranteed-issue and some simplified-issue burial policies carry a graded death benefit. For roughly the first two to three years, a death from natural causes does not pay the full face amount. Instead the policy returns the premiums paid, usually with interest — 10 percent per year is a common contractual rate — while accidental death pays the full amount from day one. After the graded period expires, the full face amount is payable for any cause.

Two consequences follow. If the insured is inside the graded window, the policy’s economic value right now is roughly the return-of-premium amount, not the face amount, and no rational buyer would value it otherwise. And if the insured is past the graded window, the policy has stepped up to full value and is worth substantially more than the owner may realize — which is an argument for keeping it, not selling it.

Find the graded provision by looking for language about death during the first two policy years, or a schedule showing a percentage of face payable by year. If your contract has no such provision, it was fully underwritten at issue and pays face value from the start.

Four Options That Usually Beat Trying to Sell

1. Keep it and stop worrying about it. If the premium is $40 a month and it is affordable, a paid-when-you-die funeral fund is doing exactly what it was bought to do. Nothing here is an argument to unwind a policy that works.

2. Reduced paid-up. Most whole life contracts, including small ones, let you stop paying premiums forever and take a smaller guaranteed death benefit that stays in force for life. A $15,000 policy might become an $8,000 policy with no premium ever again. For someone on a fixed income this is frequently the right answer and it is a contractual right, not a favor. See how reduced paid-up insurance works.

3. Take the cash surrender value. Small whole life policies build modest cash value. Surrendering ends the coverage and pays that value, and any amount above your total premiums paid is generally taxable as ordinary income. On most burial policies the cash value is a fraction of the face amount, so surrender is the weakest of these options — but it is real money and it is available on request.

4. Use an accelerated death benefit rider. Many final expense policies include a terminal illness or chronic illness rider that pays a portion of the death benefit while the insured is living, at no cost beyond a small actuarial discount. Payments under a qualifying rider are generally excluded from income under Internal Revenue Code section 101(g) for a terminally or chronically ill insured, subject to the statute’s conditions. Read what an accelerated death benefit rider does before assuming your policy lacks one; owners routinely have riders they have forgotten.

Option	What You Receive	Coverage After	Best When
Keep paying	Nothing now	Full face amount at death	Premium is affordable and a funeral fund is still wanted
Reduced paid-up	Nothing now	Smaller guaranteed benefit, no more premiums	Premium has become a strain but coverage is still wanted
Surrender for cash	Cash surrender value	None	Cash is needed now and no one depends on the benefit
Accelerated death benefit rider	Portion of face amount during life	Reduced remaining benefit	Terminal or chronic illness and the rider exists
Life settlement	Generally not available	Not applicable	Rarely: face amount near or above $100,000

The Narrow Cases Where a Review Is Still Worth Doing

Three exceptions are real.

Stacked policies. Final expense coverage is often sold repeatedly to the same household. Someone with four $25,000 policies from four carriers holds $100,000 of aggregate death benefit. Individually none of them is reviewable; that does not mean the household’s overall insurance picture should go unexamined, and some buyers will look at multiple contracts on one insured together.

A larger simplified-issue contract. Not every simplified-issue policy is small. Some carriers write simplified-issue whole life at $50,000, $100,000, or more. If the face amount on your cover page has more zeros than a burial policy usually does, it is not a final expense policy in the market sense, whatever the agent called it.

A terminal or serious diagnosis. Viatical settlements — sales by an insured who is terminally or chronically ill — operate under different economics and sometimes different size thresholds, because the expected holding period is short. The Internal Revenue Code defines a terminally ill individual for these purposes as one certified by a physician as reasonably expected to die within 24 months. Read how a viatical settlement differs from a life settlement, and check the accelerated death benefit rider first, since it usually costs nothing and pays faster.

Preneed Contracts and Funeral Home Assignments Are Not the Same Thing

Some burial coverage is not a freestanding policy at all. In a preneed arrangement, a life policy is purchased in connection with a funeral contract and the death benefit is assigned to a funeral home, which agrees to provide specified goods and services. If your policy has an assignment of benefits on file, you do not have unilateral control over the proceeds, and there is nothing to sell in the ordinary sense.

Check for an assignment form in your policy file, and check whether the funeral home named still exists — ownership consolidation in the funeral industry means the operator who signed your contract may have been acquired, which raises the separate question of whether the goods and services promised are still honored at the stated price.

Preneed contracts and funeral trust funding are regulated at the state level, and the federal FTC Funeral Rule, codified at 16 C.F.R. Part 453, separately requires funeral providers to give you an itemized general price list on request. If you are trying to compare what your policy funds against what a funeral now costs, that price list is the document to ask for.

Reading Your Annual Statement Line by Line

The annual statement answers most of these questions without a phone call. Look for five figures: the current death benefit, the cash surrender value, any outstanding policy loan and its accrued interest, the premium paid in the last twelve months, and the paid-up or extended-term options available if you stop paying. A policy loan is the item that most often surprises people, because interest compounds silently and can eventually erode the death benefit.

If the statement is confusing, our line-by-line guide to reading an annual statement maps the common formats. If you cannot locate the statement, Assurity’s policyholder service line can reissue values by policy number, and can confirm in writing whether a reduced paid-up election is available and what benefit it would produce.

Ask for that reduced paid-up quote in writing before you make any decision. It is free, it commits you to nothing, and for a household deciding whether it can keep paying, it is usually the single most useful number available.

What to Actually Do This Week

Pull the cover page and the most recent annual statement. Confirm the face amount and whether the death benefit is graded or level. Call the carrier and request, in writing, the current cash surrender value, the reduced paid-up death benefit if you stop paying, a list of every rider on the contract, and confirmation of whether any assignment of benefits is on file. Then decide between keeping it, going paid-up, or surrendering — those are the live options on a small policy.

If it turns out the face amount is far larger than a burial policy normally is, or if there are several policies on the same insured, a free review will tell you whether the secondary market is relevant. Send the policy cover page or call (305) 209-7183. If the answer is that there is no market, you will be told that directly rather than strung along. Compare the paths on our surrender versus sell page and the broader final expense policy overview.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there any buyer at all for a $10,000 burial policy?

Not in the regulated life settlement market. Fixed diligence costs, two life expectancy reports, escrow, and legal review consume more than a policy that size is worth. Anyone offering to buy one, or charging an upfront fee to shop it, should be treated as a red flag rather than an opportunity.

What is a graded death benefit and how do I know if I have one?

It means that for roughly the first two to three years, death from natural causes returns your premiums with interest instead of paying the face amount, while accidental death pays in full. Look in your contract for a schedule showing a percentage of face payable by policy year, or language about death in the first two years.

Can I stop paying and keep some coverage?

Usually. Most whole life contracts include a reduced paid-up option that converts the policy to a smaller guaranteed death benefit with no further premiums ever due. Ask the carrier in writing for the reduced paid-up amount. It is a contractual right, it costs nothing to ask, and it commits you to nothing.

What if I have several small policies from different companies?

Add the face amounts together. Four $25,000 policies on the same insured total $100,000, and some buyers will evaluate multiple contracts on one life as a package. It is still not a strong candidate, but it is the one common situation where the size objection may not automatically end the conversation.

I have a terminal diagnosis. Does that change the answer?

It can. Viatical transactions price a short expected holding period and sometimes accept smaller policies. But check your accelerated death benefit rider first, because it usually pays faster, costs nothing beyond an actuarial discount, and payments to a terminally or chronically ill insured are generally excluded from income under IRC section 101(g).

My policy is assigned to a funeral home. Can I still do anything with it?

Not unilaterally. An assignment of benefits directs the proceeds to the funeral provider under a preneed contract, so you do not control the payout. Confirm with the carrier whether an assignment is on file, and check whether the funeral home named in the contract still operates under the same ownership.

How much cash value does a small whole life policy usually have?

Far less than the face amount, particularly in the early years, and it builds slowly. Your annual statement lists the exact figure. Any surrender proceeds above the total premiums you have paid are generally taxable as ordinary income, so ask the carrier for your cost basis at the same time you ask for the value.

Related Reading

• Can I Sell A Final Expense Policy
• Minimum Policy Size For A Life Settlement
• What Is Reduced Paid Up Insurance
• What Is An Accelerated Death Benefit Rider
• What Is Cash Surrender Value
• What Is A Viatical Settlement
• Annual Statement Line By Line
• Surrender Vs Sell Policy
• Sell My Assurity Whole Life Policy

---

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.