Yes — you can sell a Great-West Life & Annuity variable universal life policy in a life settlement, because the contract is your property and the buyer purchases it from you; the insurer’s consent is not required. What makes VUL different from every other policy type is that the number you would be comparing an offer against does not sit still.
In a VUL, your cash value is invested in separate-account subaccounts that behave like mutual funds. The surrender value quoted this month is not the surrender value next month, because the market moved. Meanwhile the policy deducts mortality and expense charges, administrative fees, fund-level expenses, and a cost of insurance that climbs with the insured’s age. A VUL that was funded generously in a good decade can look healthy; the same policy funded thinly and hit by a bad stretch can be quietly heading for lapse.
Add the corporate history: Great-West Life & Annuity sold its individual life and annuity business to Protective Life in 2019 and rebranded its retirement business as Empower, so the statement and the service number have changed. This guide explains how a VUL is actually valued at sale, what the fee drag is doing to your policy, and what to request from the servicing company. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Great-West Life & Annuity, Empower, or Protective Life. Education only — not legal, tax, or investment advice.
In This Article
- Your Subaccount Balance Is Not What a Buyer Is Buying
- The Fee Stack: M&E, Admin, Fund Expenses, and Cost of Insurance
- Get the Illustration at Guaranteed Assumptions — Not Just a Rate of Return
- The Moving-Target Problem at Closing
- Who Services a Great-West VUL Now
- How the Sale Works and What It Should Pay
- When a VUL Should Be Kept, Fixed, or Let Go
- Frequently Asked Questions
Your Subaccount Balance Is Not What a Buyer Is Buying
This is the most common misunderstanding among VUL owners. You watch the account value like a brokerage statement, so it feels like the account value is the asset. To a life settlement buyer, it mostly is not.
A buyer is acquiring a future death benefit and taking on the obligation to fund the policy until it pays. What they care about is: how large is the death benefit, how long is it likely to be before it is paid, and how much premium will it take to keep the contract alive in the meantime. The subaccount balance enters that calculation in two limited ways — it is a source of funds that offsets near-term charges, and it sets the surrender value that any offer must beat.
The practical implication is liberating for owners of underperforming policies. A VUL whose subaccounts have disappointed is not automatically worth less in the secondary market. Sometimes it is worth more attention, because the owner’s alternative — surrendering for a depleted balance or watching it lapse — is so poor. See settlement versus surrender for the comparison framework.
The Fee Stack: M&E, Admin, Fund Expenses, and Cost of Insurance
VUL carries more layers of cost than any other permanent product, and understanding them explains why so many of these policies underperform the illustration:
- Mortality and expense risk (M&E) charges. An ongoing charge assessed against separate-account assets to compensate the insurer for guarantees and expense risk.
- Administrative and policy fees. Flat monthly charges plus, in some designs, a percentage of premium.
- Fund-level expenses. The subaccounts have their own operating expense ratios, deducted inside the funds before your return is calculated.
- Cost of insurance. The big one. It is deducted monthly, priced on the net amount at risk, and it rises steeply with age.
- Surrender charges. Applicable during an early-year schedule, reducing what you would net from cancelling.
Because the cost of insurance is based on the difference between the death benefit and the account value, a falling account value increases the amount at risk, which increases the charge, which drains the account value further. That feedback loop is why underfunded VULs can deteriorate faster than owners expect once the insured is in their seventies.
Get the Illustration at Guaranteed Assumptions — Not Just a Rate of Return
Most VUL owners have only ever seen illustrations at an assumed rate of return: 6%, 8%, sometimes more. Those are projections, not promises. For a real picture, request from the servicing company:
- An in-force illustration at 0% assumed return and at guaranteed maximum charges, showing the year the policy would lapse at your current premium. This is the contractual worst case.
- An illustration at a modest assumed return — 4% or 5% — which is a fairer planning basis than the optimistic numbers on the original sales illustration.
- The premium required to carry the policy to age 95 or 100 under each assumption.
- Current surrender charge, if any, and loan balance with interest to date.
Those documents are what a buyer prices from, and they are what tells you whether you are holding an asset or a slow leak. Our guide to what an in-force illustration is explains how to read the columns.
| Charge or Factor | What It Does | Effect on a Sale |
|---|---|---|
| Subaccount performance | Moves cash value up and down with markets | Shifts the surrender floor an offer must beat |
| M&E and administrative charges | Ongoing deductions against the policy | Part of the buyer’s carrying cost |
| Fund operating expenses | Deducted inside each subaccount | Drags long-run account value growth |
| Cost of insurance | Rises with age and with net amount at risk | Main driver of premium needed to avoid lapse |
| Surrender charge | Reduces what cancelling would pay | Lowers the surrender comparison further |
| Outstanding loan | Accrues interest against the policy | Settled out of proceeds at closing |
The Moving-Target Problem at Closing
Because a VUL’s account value fluctuates daily, a few practical issues come up in a transaction that do not arise with fixed-value policies.
First, the surrender-value benchmark shifts. If your subaccounts rise substantially between the review and the closing, the floor an offer must clear rises with them. If they fall, the floor drops. Neither should change the fundamental logic of the decision, but it is worth knowing why numbers get restated.
Second, moving your money to a conservative subaccount during the process is a legitimate risk-management step to discuss with your own financial advisor, not with a buyer. Nobody purchasing your policy should be advising you on how to allocate it in the meantime. This page does not give investment advice, and neither should the person on the other side of a transaction.
Third, outstanding loans are settled out of the transaction. Request a payoff figure with interest to date rather than working from an old statement, and ask your own tax advisor about the treatment of a discharged loan on a policy sale.
Who Services a Great-West VUL Now
Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company was headquartered in the Denver area and belonged to Canada’s Great-West Lifeco group. In 2019 it sold its individual life and annuity business to Protective Life through a reinsurance transaction; the retirement side continued as Empower and the remaining legal entity was later renamed to match. So the entity that issued your VUL is not the entity that services it today.
Because variable products involve separate accounts and prospectuses as well as insurance servicing, VUL owners sometimes get bounced between departments. Work from the most recent statement or premium notice, ask specifically for the variable life service unit, and confirm the current servicing entity, address, and phone number as of 2026 before mailing forms.
A transferred policy keeps its contractual guarantees. The 2019 transaction did not change your death benefit, your maximum contractual charges, the subaccounts available to you, or your right to transfer ownership. It is worth checking the current A.M. Best financial-strength rating of the company standing behind the block — verify it rather than relying on memory.
How the Sale Works and What It Should Pay
A free review starts with the policy cover page alone — insurer, policy number, face amount, issue date. If the policy looks viable, the file grows to include the recent statement, the illustrations described above, and eventually a HIPAA authorization so independent underwriters can prepare a life-expectancy estimate. Any release you sign should be specific and revocable.
Then: offer, contracts, escrow, ownership change, funding. Roughly 60 to 120 days end to end. Keep paying premiums throughout — a lapsed policy cannot be sold. Insist on independent escrow, get the offer in writing, and ask to see both the gross amount and what actually reaches you after any intermediary compensation. Confirm the rescission period available where you live.
On value, the federal GAO’s market study (GAO-10-775) found sellers typically received roughly 10% to 35% of face value and on the order of 4 to 8 times cash surrender value. Broad market ranges, not a quote — a VUL with a depleted account value and a large death benefit can look very different from one with a healthy balance. See how much you can get for a policy.
When a VUL Should Be Kept, Fixed, or Let Go
Selling is not the default answer. Consider the alternatives honestly:
- Keep and fund it properly. If the coverage is still needed and the required premium is affordable, adding premium now is far cheaper than replacing coverage at an older age.
- Reduce the death benefit. Lowering the face amount cuts the net amount at risk and the monthly cost of insurance, which can stabilize a struggling policy. Below about $100,000 it stops being a settlement candidate.
- Exchange it. A tax-deferred exchange into a different contract may make sense in some situations; that is a conversation for your own tax and financial advisors.
- Surrender. Take the net account value after any surrender charge and loan payoff — see how cash surrender value works.
- Sell. A lump sum for the contract, or a structure ending your premiums while retaining part of the death benefit — see how the policy options work.
The worst outcome is inaction ending in a lapse, which returns nothing. To have someone look at yours, send the cover page for a free review or call (305) 209-7183.
Frequently Asked Questions
My VUL subaccounts have lost money. Can I still sell the policy?
Yes, and it may be one of the better reasons to look. Buyers price a variable universal life policy on the death benefit, life expectancy, and the premium needed to keep it in force — not primarily on the subaccount balance. A depleted account value mainly means your surrender alternative is weak, which is exactly when a settlement is worth exploring.
Why does my quoted surrender value keep changing?
VUL cash value is held in separate-account subaccounts that move with the markets, so the value is recalculated continuously. Any surrender charge still in effect and any outstanding loan are also subtracted. That is why a figure quoted last month will not match this month’s.
What are M&E charges?
Mortality and expense risk charges are ongoing deductions assessed against separate-account assets to compensate the insurer for the guarantees and expense risk it carries. They sit on top of fund-level operating expenses and the policy’s administrative fees and cost of insurance. Together these layers explain much of the gap between the original illustration and actual results.
Great-West no longer issues life policies. Is mine still in force?
Yes, assuming premiums have been maintained. The individual life and annuity block was sold to Protective Life in 2019 through a reinsurance transaction, and a transferred policy keeps its contractual guarantees. The death benefit, maximum contractual charges, and your transfer rights are unchanged — only the servicing company differs. Confirm the current servicer as of 2026.
What illustration should I request?
Ask for an in-force illustration at 0% assumed return with guaranteed maximum charges to see the contractual worst case, plus one at a modest assumed return such as 4% or 5%. Also request the premium required to carry the policy to age 95 or 100 under each. Those documents are what a buyer prices from.
Should I move my subaccounts to something safer during the process?
That is an investment question for your own financial advisor, not for a buyer or for this page. What matters procedurally is that the policy stays in force and premiums stay current until the transaction funds. Never take allocation advice from someone with a financial interest in acquiring your policy.
Does an outstanding policy loan reduce what I receive?
Yes. The loan balance and accrued interest are settled out of the transaction, so your net proceeds are what remains afterward. Request a current payoff figure with interest to date, and ask your own tax advisor how a discharged loan is treated in a policy sale.
What do I send to get started?
Just the policy cover page — the first page listing the insurer, policy number, face amount, and issue date. That is enough for a free, no-obligation review, usually answered within days. You can also call (305) 209-7183.
Find out what your policy is worth — free, confidential, no obligation.
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Related Reading
- Life Settlement Vs Surrender
- What Is An In Force Illustration
- Cash Surrender Value Life Insurance
- How It Works Policy Options
- How Much Can I Get For My Life Insurance Policy
- Sell My Great West Life Universal 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.