Term insurance has secondary-market value only while it can still be converted into permanent coverage. Buyers acquire policies to collect death benefits, and level term almost always expires with the insured still alive. So the whole question reduces to two items: the last date a conversion application will be accepted, and the list of permanent products your contract can be converted into on that date.
On a National Western policy, the second item deserves extra care right now. The company was acquired in July 2024 by S. USA Life Insurance Company, a Prosperity Life Group company, in an all-cash merger of approximately $1.9 billion, and it redomesticated from Colorado to Arizona as part of the same approval process. New ownership routinely rationalizes a product portfolio, which means the permanent products available for conversion today may differ from what existed when your term policy was written — and possibly from what was available last year.
Do not plan around a product you remember being offered. Get the current list in writing, and build extra time into any schedule, because integrations slow down exactly the administrative steps a transaction depends on.
In This Article
- What the 2024 transaction changed, and what it did not
- Why the conversion menu can shrink after an acquisition
- Build slack into the timeline
- If the policy was issued to a non-United States resident
- Once the conversion window closes, there is nothing to sell
- Sequencing, and the four conditions that have to hold
- Frequently Asked Questions
What the 2024 transaction changed, and what it did not
National Western Life Group, Inc. announced the closing of its acquisition on July 9, 2024. S. USA Life Insurance Company, Inc., a Prosperity Life Group company, acquired the group in an all-cash merger valued at roughly $1.9 billion, with each share of common stock converted into the right to receive $500 in cash. All required regulatory approvals were obtained, including approval for the redomestication of National Western Life Insurance Company from Colorado to Arizona. Home office operations remain in Austin, Texas.
What did not change: your contract. A change of control and a statutory redomestication transfer the insurer’s obligations intact. The face amount, the level premium period, the conversion provision, the rate class and every other term survive the transaction unchanged. Anyone suggesting your conversion right was extinguished by the merger is mistaken.
What did change: the domiciliary regulator is now the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions rather than the Colorado Division of Insurance, and the company sits inside a new corporate group with its own product strategy. For a consumer complaint, file with the insurance department of the state where you live, which retains jurisdiction over how a licensed insurer treats its residents. For anything about your policy’s terms, deal with National Western directly, using the company’s full legal name and the policy number.
Why the conversion menu can shrink after an acquisition
A conversion provision typically promises the right to exchange a term contract for a permanent policy from the insurer’s portfolio, without evidence of insurability. It does not promise that any particular product will still be sold when you exercise it. That distinction is invisible until a company changes hands.
New ownership commonly reviews the permanent lineup, discontinues designs that do not fit the group’s strategy, and introduces replacements. A conversion option that existed in 2019 may simply no longer be issued. What matters to you is not the historical catalogue but the answer to a narrow question: which permanent products may this specific contract be converted into today, and what is the premium for each at the insured’s attained age?
Ask a second question alongside it, because it determines what a buyer will pay: does any eligible product carry a no-lapse or lifetime secondary guarantee, and what is the guarantee premium? A guaranteed design lets a buyer compute the exact cost of carrying the policy to maturity with no assumptions. A flexible-premium design without a guarantee forces the buyer to assume future crediting rates and rising cost-of-insurance charges, and they will assume conservatively, which reduces the offer. Background is in guaranteed universal life explained.
Put both questions in writing. Verbal answers on conversion options are unreliable in ordinary times and less reliable during an integration.
Build slack into the timeline
A secondary-market transaction depends on several carrier-supplied documents arriving on schedule. The most important is the verification of coverage — the form on which the insurer confirms face amount, in-force status, premium mode, loan balance and beneficiary of record. Buyers will not close without it, and no amount of urgency on your side speeds up a service center. See what a verification of coverage is for why it functions as a gate.
Companies undergoing ownership integration frequently migrate policy administration systems, consolidate service centers and change correspondence addresses. Each of those can add weeks to routine requests. In a normal environment, a life settlement runs two to four months end to end, with medical records retrieval taking three to six weeks and independent life expectancy reports adding two to three more — see the typical timeline. Plan on the longer end here.
The practical implication is about deadlines. If the conversion window closes within ninety days, say so on the first call to every party involved, and get the carrier’s written confirmation of the last conversion date early rather than at the end. A transaction that misses the conversion deadline by two weeks produces nothing.
| Item to confirm | Who provides it | Typical wait | Why it gates the transaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last conversion date | National Western, in writing | 1-3 weeks | Defines the whole window; everything else must fit inside it |
| Current eligible permanent products | National Western, in writing | 1-3 weeks | The menu may have changed since the 2024 acquisition |
| Guarantee premium at attained age | Carrier illustration | 2-4 weeks | Buyers subtract this stream from the offer |
| Medical records | Treating providers | 3-6 weeks | Feeds life expectancy underwriting |
| Verification of coverage | National Western | 2-6 weeks | No buyer closes without it |
If the policy was issued to a non-United States resident
National Western has historically written a substantial block of life insurance sold to non-United States residents, and this comes up more often on its policies than on most carriers’. If the paperwork shows a foreign mailing address, premium remittances in another currency, or an application completed outside the United States, treat it as a separate track.
Two reasons. State guaranty association protection generally follows the policyholder’s residence, so a policy issued to a non-resident may fall outside that system entirely — a risk consideration independent of the policy’s terms. And the life settlement market is a state-regulated domestic market: transactions are governed by the settlement statute of the owner’s state of residence, with provider and broker licensing, mandated disclosures and a rescission period. A policy owned by a non-resident does not fit that framework cleanly, and most licensed providers will decline it.
None of that makes the policy less valuable as insurance. It means the exit options are different, and an adviser who does not ask about residence at the outset is not paying attention to the file.
Once the conversion window closes, there is nothing to sell
This is true at every carrier and worth stating without hedging. Take a $500,000 20-year level term issued at 55, now in year 18 with the insured at 73 and in poor health. If the contract is convertible, a buyer can quote the conversion cost, project premiums to life expectancy and bid. If the window closed at year 10, that same buyer sees coverage terminating in 24 months and the probability of a claim inside that period is too low to price. There is no offer.
Post-level annual renewable term does not rescue it. Renewal rates commonly rise fivefold to tenfold in the first year past the level period and climb steeply after, because carriers price for the fact that healthy insureds shop elsewhere and mainly impaired lives renew. No buyer will underwrite that stream.
The one exception is a terminal or severely impaired insured whose documented life expectancy is shorter than the remaining level term. That is priced as a viatical case against the short life expectancy rather than against a conversion right, and it operates under different state rules. Outside it, the honest answer is no — and getting that answer early is worth more than a slow maybe. See selling a term life policy for how the two cases are distinguished.
Sequencing, and the four conditions that have to hold
Converted permanent coverage is priced at the insured’s attained age. On a $500,000 face for a 70-year-old, an annual premium of $24,000 to $42,000 is realistic depending on product and rate class. Never pay it on speculation.
The order that protects you: confirm the conversion deadline and the current eligible product list in writing; obtain guarantee premiums at attained age for each option; complete life expectancy underwriting; collect and compare offers from more than one buyer; then execute the conversion at or near closing, with the buyer funding or reimbursing the conversion cost. Converting first and shopping afterward transfers every dollar of risk to you and is the most common avoidable loss in this market.
Ask about partial conversion too. Most provisions permit converting part of the face amount subject to a minimum, letting a household keep the protection it still needs and evaluate the balance separately. The comparison is in life settlement versus term conversion.
Four conditions have to hold together for a transaction to make sense: the insured is roughly 70 or older, or younger with a serious documented impairment; the face amount is $100,000 or more and preferably $250,000 or more; the conversion right is open with enough runway to close inside it; and the family has genuinely concluded the coverage is no longer needed. When a spouse, dependent or special-needs beneficiary still relies on the benefit, keep it — the death benefit is worth more than any bid. When the insured is healthy and in their early sixties, projected life expectancy is too long to justify the conversion premium; diary the deadline and revisit only if health changes materially. General eligibility is covered in can a term policy be sold, and small permanent contracts are covered separately in our National Western burial policy guide.
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. A free policy review reads the conversion language against the current product menu and tells you honestly whether this is worth pursuing, including when the answer is no.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the 2024 acquisition change my policy?
No. National Western was acquired by S. USA Life Insurance Company, a Prosperity Life Group company, in an all-cash merger of approximately $1.9 billion that closed July 9, 2024, and the company redomesticated from Colorado to Arizona as part of the approvals. A change of control transfers obligations intact, so your face amount, level period, rate class and conversion provision are unchanged.
Can the list of products I can convert into change?
Yes. A conversion provision gives you the right to exchange your term contract for a permanent policy from the insurer’s portfolio, but it does not promise any particular product will still be offered. New ownership commonly discontinues and replaces designs. Ask in writing which products your specific contract may convert into today, with the premium for each at attained age.
Which regulator supervises National Western now?
As part of the 2024 transaction, National Western Life Insurance Company redomesticated from Colorado to Arizona, so the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions is the domiciliary regulator. Home office operations remain in Austin, Texas. Consumer complaints should be filed with the insurance department of the state where you live, which has jurisdiction over the company’s treatment of its residents.
Should I expect slower service during the ownership integration?
Plan for it. Integrations often involve administration system migrations, service center consolidation and address changes, any of which can add weeks to routine requests such as illustrations and verification of coverage. A life settlement normally runs two to four months end to end; assume the longer end, and secure written confirmation of your conversion deadline early rather than late.
My policy was issued to someone living abroad. Can it be sold?
Usually not through the standard market. Life settlement transactions are governed by the settlement statute of the owner’s state of residence, with provider and broker licensing, mandated disclosures and a rescission period, and a policy owned by a non-resident does not fit that framework. State guaranty association protection also generally follows residence, so it may not apply either.
What if my conversion window has already closed?
Then the policy has essentially no secondary-market value, because it will expire while the insured is living. Post-level renewal does not help, since renewal rates typically rise fivefold to tenfold in the first year. The narrow exception is a terminal or severely impaired insured with a documented life expectancy shorter than the remaining level period, which is handled as a viatical case.
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Related Reading
- What Is A Term Conversion Rider
- Can I Sell A Term Life Insurance Policy
- What Is Verification Of Coverage
- What Is Guaranteed Universal Life
- Life Settlement Vs Term Conversion
- How Long Does A Life Settlement Take
- Sell Term Life Policy
- Sell My National Western Final Expense 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.