Yes — a variable universal life policy can be sold in a life settlement regardless of which company issued it, provided both you and the policy qualify; the buyer is purchasing your contract, and no carrier has to approve the sale. Ownership of a life insurance policy is a property right. When the transaction closes, the insurer simply updates its records to show a new owner and beneficiary.
Before we get into how VUL is valued, one clarification saves most readers a phone call. Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company of Phoenix, Arizona is a final-expense specialist. Its flagship offering, Funeral Advantage, is marketed together with membership in the Funeral Consumer Guardian Society, and the policy underneath is small-face simplified-issue whole life — often carrying a graded or modified death benefit for the first couple of years. Variable universal life is a registered securities product sold through broker-dealers, and it is not what Lincoln Heritage is known for.
If your statements show subaccounts, market values that move, and mortality and expense charges, the issuing company is probably not Lincoln Heritage. This guide covers how to tell, and how VUL settlements work either way. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company.
In This Article
- Check the Cover Page Before Anything Else
- Why This Month’s Surrender Value Tells You Almost Nothing
- What a Buyer Values in a VUL — and It Isn’t the Subaccounts
- If You Actually Hold a Lincoln Heritage Final-Expense Policy
- Documents to Pull Together
- Process, Timing, and Where the Money Sits
- Keep, Restructure, or Sell?
- Get a Free Policy Review
- Frequently Asked Questions
Check the Cover Page Before Anything Else
Variable universal life leaves fingerprints. If you own one, you receive a prospectus, your statement lists investment subaccounts by name, and the account value changes with the markets. Final-expense whole life does none of that: the cash value follows a fixed guaranteed schedule printed in the contract.
So read the first page of your policy and note the exact legal name of the issuing company. Two names get confused constantly. Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company writes final expense. Lincoln Financial Group (The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company) is a separate, unrelated company that has been a significant writer of variable universal life. If your policy came through a financial advisor with a prospectus attached, Lincoln Financial or another VUL writer is the more likely issuer. Confirm the current A.M. Best rating for whichever company issued yours directly with the carrier or A.M. Best, as of 2026.
Why This Month’s Surrender Value Tells You Almost Nothing
The defining feature of VUL is that the cash value sits in separate-account subaccounts — essentially mutual-fund-style portfolios — and it moves with the market. The surrender value quoted to you today is not the surrender value next month. That makes it a poor anchor for any decision, and it is why VUL owners sometimes talk themselves out of a settlement after a good quarter, or into a panic surrender after a bad one.
Layered on top of investment performance are the policy’s own costs: mortality and expense risk charges (M&E), fund-level expenses, administrative fees, and the monthly cost of insurance. That cost of insurance is the one that matters most as the years pass, because it is priced off the insured’s attained age and rises steadily. An underfunded VUL in the insured’s late seventies can consume account value faster than the subaccounts replace it, which is how policies that once looked comfortable end up on a lapse trajectory.
What a Buyer Values in a VUL — and It Isn’t the Subaccounts
This surprises people. A settlement buyer is not buying your investment portfolio. On closing, the buyer typically has the flexibility to reallocate or restructure how the policy is funded. What the buyer is actually pricing is the death benefit, the premium load required to carry the policy to maturity, and the insured’s life expectancy.
That is why a VUL with weak subaccount performance is not automatically a weak settlement candidate. Sometimes it is the opposite: a policy that is struggling to sustain itself is exactly the policy an owner should not be pouring more premium into, and a sale converts a deteriorating asset into cash today. Conversely, a heavily funded VUL with a large account value relative to its death benefit leaves less economic room for a buyer, which can compress offers. The only way to know is to have someone model it. Start with what drives an offer.
If You Actually Hold a Lincoln Heritage Final-Expense Policy
We will be direct about this rather than string you along. Final-expense coverage is deliberately small — it is built to pay for a funeral, cemetery costs, and a few final bills. The life settlement market generally requires a death benefit of $100,000 or more, because the fixed costs of a transaction (underwriting review, life-expectancy analysis, escrow, closing documents) do not scale down with the policy. A small final-expense policy cannot absorb them, so buyers will not bid.
The realistic alternatives for a small policy are keeping it, converting to reduced paid-up coverage if the contract allows, or surrendering for whatever cash value exists. If the insured is still inside a graded or modified death benefit period, keeping the policy is usually the stronger choice, because that period ends and the full benefit takes over. Our cash surrender value explainer covers what surrender actually pays.
| Clue on your statement | What it points to | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Named investment subaccounts and a prospectus | Variable universal life | Request in-force illustrations at current, guaranteed, and 0% return |
| Fixed guaranteed cash value schedule, no market values | Whole life (often final expense) | Check the face amount against the $100k market minimum |
| Issuer: Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company | Final-expense whole life, Funeral Advantage | Usually too small to settle — consider paid-up or keeping it |
| Issuer: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company | Lincoln Financial product line, unrelated company | Often a viable settlement candidate at $100k+ |
| Mortality & expense (M&E) charges listed | Variable product | Ask how much of the account value charges consume annually |
Documents to Pull Together
A VUL review needs slightly more paper than other policy types, because the moving parts are the point:
- Policy cover page — issuing company’s full legal name, policy number, face amount, issue date. This alone is enough to start a free review.
- Most recent quarterly or annual statement — account value, subaccount allocations, charges deducted, and any outstanding policy loan.
- An in-force illustration at both current and guaranteed assumptions. For a VUL, ask for a range of assumed gross return rates, including a low one such as 0%. That low-return version shows you when the policy would run out of money if the markets do not cooperate — the single most useful number in the whole file. See how to read an in-force illustration.
Process, Timing, and Where the Money Sits
The sequence is the same for VUL as for any other permanent policy. A free review screens the policy from the cover page. Then comes documentation — in-force illustrations from the carrier, a signed HIPAA authorization, and medical records that support a life-expectancy estimate. Offers follow, and if a broker is in the middle you should insist on seeing both the gross offer and the net after commissions. Contracts are signed, funds go into independent escrow, the carrier processes the ownership and beneficiary change, and only then does escrow release your payment. Most states then give you a rescission window to unwind the sale if you change your mind.
End to end, budget 60 to 120 days. Never transfer ownership on a promise that money will follow. As a reference point on outcomes, the U.S. Government Accountability Office study GAO-10-775 found sellers typically received roughly 10% to 35% of face value, on the order of four to eight times the surrender value those policies would have paid.
Keep, Restructure, or Sell?
Three questions usually decide it. Does anyone still depend on the death benefit? Can you comfortably fund the premium the policy now needs — not the premium you were originally quoted? And what does the 0% illustration say about how long the policy survives on its own? If nobody depends on it, the premium is a strain, and the illustration shows the policy failing in the insured’s eighties, a sale deserves serious consideration.
There is also a middle path worth asking about, where you keep a portion of the death benefit and stop paying premiums entirely. That and the other structures are described in how the policy options work, and the straight comparison against surrendering is in life settlement vs. surrender. This page is educational and is not legal, tax, or investment advice; a VUL is a securities product, so loop in your own advisor.
Get a Free Policy Review
Send the policy cover page and we will tell you what you actually own, whether it is a VUL or a final-expense whole life contract, and whether it is realistically worth taking to market — including when the answer is no. There is no cost and no obligation. Call (305) 209-7183 with questions, or browse related guides including selling a Lincoln Heritage GUL policy. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company or Lincoln Financial Group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the insurance company have to approve a life settlement?
No. You own the policy, and a buyer purchases the contract from you directly. After closing, the carrier records the new owner and beneficiary as an administrative step. No carrier approval, endorsement, or affiliation is involved.
Is Lincoln Heritage related to Lincoln Financial Group?
No. Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company of Phoenix, Arizona is a final-expense carrier known for its Funeral Advantage program. Lincoln Financial Group is a separate and unrelated company. The similar names are the source of most of the confusion on this topic — check your cover page.
My VUL’s account value dropped. Is it worth less to a buyer now?
Not necessarily. Buyers price the death benefit, the premium needed to sustain the policy, and life expectancy — not your subaccount balance. A policy struggling to sustain itself is often a stronger reason to consider selling rather than continuing to fund it.
What is the 0% illustration and why does it matter?
It is an in-force illustration run assuming the subaccounts earn nothing. It shows the year the policy would exhaust its value and lapse if markets do not help. For a VUL owner deciding whether to keep paying, it is the single most informative page in the file.
Can I sell a small final-expense policy?
Generally not. The market works with death benefits of about $100,000 and up because transaction costs are largely fixed. For a small policy, look instead at reduced paid-up coverage, surrendering for cash value, or simply keeping coverage that is doing its intended job.
How much might a qualifying VUL bring?
The GAO’s market study (GAO-10-775) found sellers typically received about 10% to 35% of face value, roughly four to eight times cash surrender value. Your own result depends on age, health, the death benefit, and the premium required going forward. No one can quote a number without seeing the policy.
How long does the sale take?
Usually 60 to 120 days from application to funded payment. Carrier illustrations and medical records are the slow steps. Funds should be held by an independent escrow agent until the insurer confirms the ownership transfer, and most states provide a rescission window afterward.
What should I send to get started?
The policy cover page — the first page listing the issuing company, policy number, face amount, and issue date. That is enough for a free, no-obligation review. If it looks like a candidate, the next request is an in-force illustration from the carrier.
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
- What Is An In Force Illustration
- Cash Surrender Value Life Insurance
- How It Works Policy Options
- Life Settlement Vs Surrender
- How Much Can I Get For My Life Insurance Policy
- Sell My Lincoln Heritage Guaranteed Universal 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.