Term life insurance has resale value only while the conversion privilege is still open, and that window usually closes years before the level premium period ends. A buyer in the life settlement market pays for a death benefit that will eventually be paid. Term coverage that expires while the insured is alive pays nothing, so a policy that can no longer be converted into permanent insurance has essentially no market value — not a low value, effectively none.
With a policy carrying the Great Western name there is an additional step before that analysis even applies: confirming what kind of contract you hold and which company issued it. Several insurers have used closely similar names, and one of the most common carries a large block of small-face permanent policies sold through funeral homes — contracts that people routinely describe as “my term policy” because the premium is small and paid monthly. Determining what the contract actually is takes ten minutes and prevents a month of wasted effort.
This page walks through both: identifying the contract and the carrier, then the conversion analysis that decides everything else.
In This Article
- Step One: Confirm the Contract Is Actually Term Insurance
- The Conversion Deadline Is the Entire Asset
- Which Great Western Company Issued It
- What a Buyer Is Actually Purchasing
- The Cases Where the Answer Is Simply No
- Alternatives Worth Pricing Before You Decide
- Who Regulates the Transaction, and How to Vet a Caller
- Frequently Asked Questions
Step One: Confirm the Contract Is Actually Term Insurance
Find the specifications page — the page listing the policy number, issue date, insured, and face amount — and look for the plan description. You are checking for four markers that distinguish term from permanent coverage:
- A stated expiry or termination age. Term contracts terminate; permanent contracts mature, typically at age 100, 120, or 121.
- A level premium period. Language like “10 Year Level Term” or “Annual Renewable Term” is definitive.
- No cash value column. Level term generally builds none. If the contract has a table of guaranteed cash values, it is permanent insurance regardless of how small the premium is.
- The rider list. A conversion rider, a waiver of premium rider, an accidental death rider — the presence or absence of a conversion right is the single most important line on the page.
This distinction changes the entire analysis. A small permanent policy has nonforfeiture options — reduced paid-up coverage, extended term insurance, or a cash surrender value — that term insurance simply does not have. If you cannot locate the documents at all, the NAIC operates a free Life Insurance Policy Locator Service, launched in 2016, that forwards a search request to participating insurers on behalf of a beneficiary or an authorized representative. Our guide to tracking down a policy that may still be in force explains how to use it.
The Conversion Deadline Is the Entire Asset
Assuming it is term, everything now turns on the conversion provision. Three details matter, and they are usually stated in a single dense paragraph:
The last day you may convert. This is commonly expressed as the earlier of a stated policy anniversary or a stated attained age. Contracts written on 20- and 30-year chassis frequently cut off conversion at policy year 10 or 15, or at attained age 65 or 70. A 30-year term issued at 45 may stop being convertible at 65 while the level premium runs to 75. Ten years of coverage remains, but the salvageable optionality is gone.
The available conversion products. “Any permanent plan then being offered” is a broad right. “The conversion product then designated by the company” is narrow, and the designated product is often a guaranteed universal life chassis priced for the anti-selection the carrier expects from converters. Ask for the actual premium at the insured’s current attained age, in writing.
Whether health evidence is required. A genuine conversion right requires none, which is exactly what makes it valuable to someone who has become uninsurable. If the provision conditions conversion on evidence of insurability, an impaired insured cannot use it and a buyer will not price it.
Also check whether partial conversion is permitted. Most riders allow it, and it is the most useful and least used feature in the whole contract: converting $100,000 of a $600,000 term policy preserves meaningful coverage at a manageable premium and lets the rest expire. Our explainer on what a conversion rider gives you covers the variations.
Which Great Western Company Issued It
Three organizations have carried variations of this name, and they answer to different regulators.
Great Western Insurance Company, of Ogden, Utah, is domiciled in Utah and supervised by the Utah Insurance Department. Its historical business is pre-need funeral funding and final expense life insurance distributed through funeral homes and independent agents. Global Atlantic Financial Group acquired the company in 2020; Global Atlantic became a wholly owned KKR subsidiary in January 2024. Small monthly-premium contracts from this block are usually permanent, not term, and pre-need contracts are frequently assigned to a funeral home — an assignment that can make the policy unsaleable regardless of anything else.
Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, hyphenated, was a Colorado insurer regulated by the Colorado Division of Insurance. It transferred substantially all individual life and annuity business to Protective Life Insurance Company effective June 1, 2019, so Protective handles servicing on most U.S. individual contracts today. There is a separate live page for the Great-West term block.
The Great-West Life Assurance Company, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, amalgamated into The Canada Life Assurance Company effective January 1, 2020. Canadian policies are not sold into the U.S. secondary market.
As of 2026 we can confirm in-force blocks under these names but cannot confirm a currently marketed retail term product branded “Great Western Life.” Rather than name a product that may not exist, work from your own specifications page and the NAIC company code, which you can look up at the NAIC Consumer Information Source to get the current legal entity, domicile, and complaint record. If the contract turns out to be small-face permanent coverage, the final expense analysis is the relevant one.
| What the contract shows | Can it be sold? | Better first move |
|---|---|---|
| Convertible term, insured 72 with serious impairments | Yes — worth pricing | Confirm the conversion deadline, then shop through a licensed broker |
| Convertible term, insured 61 and healthy | Unlikely | Partial conversion, or shop new coverage on price |
| Conversion window closed | No | Plan around the expiry date; compare replacement coverage |
| Small permanent policy mislabeled as term | Rarely, due to face amount | Ask for reduced paid-up and cash surrender figures |
| Pre-need contract assigned to a funeral home | Generally no | Request the funeral funding agreement and read the assignment |
| Employer group term after leaving the job | Only if converted in time | Act inside the 31-day conversion window |
What a Buyer Is Actually Purchasing
When a provider bids on convertible term, they are not buying the term policy. They are buying the right to create a permanent policy and then own it. That framing explains the pricing behavior that otherwise looks arbitrary.
The buyer’s model runs roughly like this. Two independent life expectancy reports establish an expected number of months. The buyer then projects the minimum premium required to keep the converted permanent policy in force across that horizon plus a margin, discounts the death benefit back at their required rate of return, subtracts projected premiums and transaction costs, and offers some portion of what remains.
Three variables dominate the result:
- The insured’s health. Nothing else comes close. A four-year life expectancy and a fourteen-year life expectancy on the same policy produce completely different answers, and only one of them is a transaction.
- The conversion product’s cost. Expensive conversion pricing can consume the entire theoretical margin. This is why two identical term policies at different carriers can produce very different offers.
- Face amount. Fixed costs — two medical underwriting reports, legal review, escrow, ongoing premium administration and tracking — do not shrink with the policy. Most institutional buyers begin at $100,000 of death benefit and many prefer considerably more.
If you want a realistic sense of whether the numbers work in your case before you gather medical records, our discussion of when a life settlement is actually worth doing lays out the arithmetic.
The Cases Where the Answer Is Simply No
Being told no early is worth more than being strung along, so here are the fact patterns that end the inquiry:
- The conversion period expired. No market, at any face amount, at any state of health. The contract will end before the death benefit is ever payable.
- Conversion requires underwriting the insured cannot pass. The right exists on paper only.
- The insured is under 65 and healthy. Long horizons and heavy accumulated premium make the case uneconomic for a buyer. This is a good problem to have.
- The policy is within its two-year contestability period. Providers will not take rescission risk.
- The contract is a pre-need funeral funding policy assigned to a funeral home. The assignment usually controls the proceeds; the policy is not the owner’s to sell.
If one of these applies, the useful question becomes what to do with the coverage you have, not what it can be sold for. Letting a policy simply run out without checking its alternatives is the most expensive default available — our comparison of selling versus letting the policy lapse exists because so many people take that default without pricing anything.
Alternatives Worth Pricing Before You Decide
Partial conversion. Preserve a slice of the coverage permanently at a fraction of the full conversion premium. This is the single best move for most people who still need some protection and cannot carry the full amount.
Conversion plus a chronic or terminal illness rider. Some permanent conversion products include or allow riders that accelerate a portion of the death benefit on a qualifying diagnosis, giving access to money without selling the contract.
Group conversion. If part of the coverage is employer group life, a separate and usually short conversion window applies at termination of employment — often 31 days. That deadline is far tighter than an individual policy’s and is missed constantly. See how group life conversion works.
Simply reapplying. A healthy insured in their sixties can sometimes buy new coverage more cheaply than converting, because conversion products are priced for a self-selected pool. Get both quotes.
An honest valuation. A free policy review at Pine Lake Life Solutions works from the policy cover page and the conversion rider, costs nothing, and includes saying plainly when the secondary market is not an option. That answer is more common on term than on any other policy type, and hearing it early saves you from disclosing medical records for no reason.
Who Regulates the Transaction, and How to Vet a Caller
The carrier’s domicile state supervises the insurer. The transaction itself is governed by the law of the state where the policy owner lives. Around forty-three states plus the District of Columbia have enacted life settlement or viatical settlement statutes, most derived from the NAIC Viatical Settlements Model Act or the NCOIL Life Settlements Model Act. Those laws license providers and brokers, prescribe contract forms, require written disclosure of alternatives to a sale, and grant a rescission period after funding — commonly fifteen days from receipt of proceeds, with the exact term set by each state. Utah, where Great Western Insurance Company is domiciled, regulates viatical and life settlement activity within Title 31A of the Utah Code through the Utah Insurance Department.
Practical vetting, in order:
- Ask whether the caller is acting as a broker (owes duties to you) or a provider (buys for its own account). The answer determines whose interests they represent.
- Get the license number and verify it on your own state department of insurance lookup. Do not use a link they send you.
- Ask for the compensation disclosure in writing before signing anything. Most states require it.
- Never pay an upfront fee to have a policy valued or shopped. Legitimate compensation comes out of a completed transaction.
- Do not sign a HIPAA authorization until you have decided to proceed. It releases your medical records.
If anyone guarantees an offer amount before life expectancy reports exist, they are describing something that cannot be known yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find the conversion deadline if I cannot find the policy?
Write to the servicing carrier and request a certified copy of the contract along with a written statement of the last date conversion is available, the products available for conversion, and the premium at the insured’s current attained age. Insurers must furnish policy documents to the owner of record. Keep a dated copy of the request; written answers matter far more than what a call center says.
Should I convert the policy before shopping it to buyers?
Usually no. Converting first commits you to permanent premiums that are several times the term premium, with no assurance an offer follows. The standard sequence is to market the policy while the conversion right is intact, then convert at or immediately after closing, often funded by the buyer. If someone urges converting first, ask them to put the reasoning in writing.
Does a term policy have any cash value I can access?
Level term normally has none. The exception is a return of premium term policy, which pays back a scheduled portion of premiums if the insured survives the level period, and some contracts accumulate a small surrender value toward the end. Ask the carrier for the current value in writing rather than assuming, since the amount can be meaningful in the final years.
The premium just jumped enormously. What happened?
The level premium period ended and the policy entered its annually renewable phase, where the premium is recalculated at attained age each year and rises steeply. Coverage continues but becomes rapidly unaffordable. This is often the moment people discover the conversion window closed years earlier, which is why checking that date long before the level period ends matters.
Can I sell a term policy on someone else, such as a parent?
Only the policy owner can sell, and the insured must consent, sign HIPAA authorizations, and cooperate with medical underwriting. If you hold a valid power of attorney with express authority over insurance contracts, you may be able to act for the owner, but carriers and buyers scrutinize that authority closely. Expect to produce the full power of attorney document.
Is there any reason not to let an unconvertible term policy simply expire?
Sometimes there is. Check for a return of premium feature, an accelerated death benefit rider that could pay on a qualifying diagnosis, and whether any portion is convertible even if the whole is not. Also confirm the exact expiry date so replacement coverage, if needed, is in place first. Once the contract terminates, none of those options exist.
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.
Related Reading
- Sell Term Life Policy
- What Is A Term Conversion Rider
- Can I Sell A Term Life Insurance Policy
- How To Find Out If A Policy Still Exists
- What Is Group Life Conversion
- Life Settlement Vs Letting Policy Lapse
- Is A Life Settlement Worth It
- Sell My Great Western Life Final Expense Policy
- Sell My Great West Life Term 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.