Yes, a whole life policy issued by North American Company for Life and Health Insurance can be sold in a life settlement, and the carrier’s permission is not required to do it. You own the contract. A buyer purchases it from you for a lump sum, takes over the premiums, and becomes the beneficiary. North American’s only role is administrative: recording the new owner once the sale closes. What determines whether a sale is possible is the insured’s age and health, the size of the death benefit, and whether the numbers work for a buyer.
One useful piece of context for North American owners: this is one of the older names in American life insurance, founded in Chicago in 1886, and today it is a member company of the Sammons Financial Group. Sammons Enterprises is employee-owned through an ESOP rather than publicly traded, so there was never a demutualization that handed shares to policyholders, and as of 2026 North American still issues new individual life insurance rather than sitting in runoff. Verify the current servicing arrangement and A.M. Best rating with the carrier directly, since ownership and ratings can change.
This guide focuses on the question that matters most with whole life: how a settlement offer compares to simply surrendering the policy or converting it to reduced paid-up coverage. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with North American Company for Life and Health Insurance or the Sammons Financial Group. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.
In This Article
- Why the Carrier Does Not Get a Vote
- North American, Midland National, and Which Company Holds Your Policy
- Guaranteed Cash Value Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
- How Dividends Change the Math on a Participating Policy
- Settlement, Surrender, or Reduced Paid-Up
- Documents to Gather
- The Process and the Timeline
- Who Qualifies, and Where to Start
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why the Carrier Does Not Get a Vote
A life insurance policy is personal property. The Supreme Court said so in Grigsby v. Russell in 1911, comparing a policy to any other asset an owner may sell, and that decision is the reason a secondary market exists at all. It applies identically to every carrier, whether the policy came from a 140-year-old company or one founded last decade.
What the carrier does handle is the recording. Once purchase agreements are signed and money is in escrow, a change of ownership or absolute assignment form goes to North American’s policy service center along with a beneficiary change. The service center processes it, issues confirmation, and the escrow agent releases your payment. Ask the service center for the current version of its ownership change packet, and confirm in 2026 whether it requires a notarized signature or a specific witness, because those details differ by carrier and change over time.
North American, Midland National, and Which Company Holds Your Policy
Families routinely mix up North American Company for Life and Health Insurance with Midland National Life Insurance Company. Both are Sammons Financial Group member companies. They are separate legal insurers issuing separate contracts, but the shared parent means similar branding on statements, and it is common to find both names in the same family’s file drawer.
For a settlement, get this right before anything else, because the in-force illustration request, the ownership change form, and the payoff quote all have to go to the correct company. Look at the cover page of the contract, not the envelope. Whichever insurer’s name appears there is the entity that issued the policy. Then call the policyholder service number listed on that carrier’s own site to confirm it is still the servicer as of 2026, since blocks can be reinsured or moved to third-party administrators without changing the contract itself.
Guaranteed Cash Value Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
Whole life is the one policy type with a contractually guaranteed cash value that grows on a schedule printed inside the contract. That table is your floor. If you surrender the policy, the carrier pays you that value, less any loan, and coverage ends. A settlement offer that does not beat the surrender value is not worth taking, and no responsible buyer would expect you to take it.
The catch is that a high cash value cuts both ways. It raises the floor a buyer has to clear, but it also means the buyer is paying for a policy whose value you could partly access yourself. In practice, the policies that price best in the secondary market tend to have a large death benefit relative to their cash value. The federal GAO study GAO-10-775 found settlements paying roughly four to eight times cash surrender value, with proceeds generally in the range of 10 to 35 percent of face value, but a heavily funded whole life policy may land toward the lower end of that multiple simply because its surrender value is already high.
How Dividends Change the Math on a Participating Policy
Some whole life contracts are participating, meaning they may receive dividends when the insurer’s experience allows. Dividends are never guaranteed. If yours is participating, the first thing to check is the dividend option currently on file: paid in cash, used to reduce premiums, left to accumulate at interest, or used to buy paid-up additions. Each one changes what the policy is worth today.
Paid-up additions are the big one. Years of additions can quietly grow both the cash value and the total death benefit well beyond the face amount printed on the cover page, which means the number a buyer prices may be larger than the number you have in your head. Dividends left on deposit accumulate as a separate balance you can usually withdraw. Ask the service center for a current values statement showing base face amount, paid-up additions, accumulated dividends, and any loan, and confirm whether your specific contract is participating rather than assuming it is.
| Option | Cash You Receive | Future Premiums | Coverage Left | Typically Best When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep paying premiums | None | Continue | Full death benefit | The coverage is still needed and affordable |
| Surrender to the carrier | Guaranteed cash value, less loans | End | None | Small policy with no settlement market interest |
| Reduced paid-up insurance | None | End permanently | Smaller paid-up death benefit | You want coverage but no more bills |
| Policy loan | Up to available cash value | Continue | Death benefit reduced by loan plus interest | Short-term need, policy stays yours |
| Life settlement | Lump sum, generally 10 to 35 percent of face value | End (buyer pays) | None, unless a retained benefit is negotiated | Coverage no longer needed and cash is |
Settlement, Surrender, or Reduced Paid-Up
Reduced paid-up is the option most whole life owners forget they have. Instead of taking cash, you use the existing cash value as a single premium to buy a smaller amount of fully paid coverage. Premiums stop permanently, the policy stays in force, and your family keeps a death benefit, just a smaller one. If the goal is ending the premium bill while keeping some coverage, reduced paid-up may serve better than any sale.
A settlement makes sense in a different situation: the coverage itself is no longer needed, and cash is. That is why so many settlements are tied to funding senior care or to a Medicaid spend-down, where the policy’s cash surrender value would count as an asset anyway. The comparison is not settlement versus surrender alone. It is settlement, surrender, reduced paid-up, extended term, and a policy loan, all measured against what the family actually needs. Our guide to a life settlement versus surrender works through that comparison in more detail.
Documents to Gather
Start with one page. The policy cover page, sometimes called the specifications or data page, shows the issuing company, policy number, face amount, issue date, insured, and premium. Send that and you can get a free policy review with no obligation and no cost.
If the review is promising, ask North American’s service center for four things: a current values statement showing cash surrender value and any loan balance, an in-force illustration projecting values forward, confirmation of the reduced paid-up amount available today, and the current change-of-ownership form. Also pull your original contract if you can find it, because the guaranteed cash value table and any riders live in there. Medical records are handled later, ordered by the buyer’s underwriter with your written authorization.
The Process and the Timeline
After the free review comes a formal application with a HIPAA authorization, which lets the buyer order medical records and commission life-expectancy estimates. Offers come back in writing. If a broker sits between you and the buyer, ask to see the gross offer and the net offer after commissions on the same page. Contracts follow, funds go into independent escrow, and only then does the ownership change go to the carrier. When the carrier confirms the transfer, escrow releases your money, and most states provide a rescission window afterward.
Budget 60 to 120 days. Medical records are the usual bottleneck. Never sign ownership over on a promise of later payment; the escrow step exists precisely to protect you. If you want the mechanics in one place before you start, see how the process works.
Who Qualifies, and Where to Start
The typical candidate is an insured around 65 or older, or younger with significant health conditions, holding at least $100,000 of death benefit on a policy that is past its contestability period. Policies with large outstanding loans are harder to place because the loan comes off the proceeds. Very small policies and inexpensive-to-carry policies often make more sense to keep, and a review will tell you that quickly.
Send the policy cover page for a free review, or call (305) 209-7183 with questions. If you also hold other North American contracts, the calculus differs by type: see our guides to selling a North American universal life policy or a North American term policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does North American have to approve the sale of my whole life policy?
No. Under Grigsby v. Russell, decided by the Supreme Court in 1911, a life insurance policy is transferable personal property. The buyer purchases the contract from you. The carrier simply records the change of ownership and beneficiary after closing.
Is North American Company for Life and Health the same as Midland National?
They are separate insurance companies that share a parent. Both are Sammons Financial Group member companies, which is why the names get confused in family paperwork. Check the cover page of your contract to see which company actually issued the policy, since all paperwork must go to that entity.
Will a settlement always beat my cash surrender value?
Not always, but a settlement is only worth pursuing if it does. The GAO study GAO-10-775 found settlements paying roughly four to eight times surrender value across the market. A heavily funded whole life policy with a high surrender value may draw a smaller multiple, and some policies draw no offer at all.
What happens to my paid-up additions if I sell?
They transfer with the policy. Paid-up additions purchased with dividends increase both the cash value and the total death benefit, so the amount a buyer prices may be higher than the face amount printed on your cover page. Ask the carrier for a current values statement that separates base coverage from additions.
Should I take reduced paid-up coverage instead of selling?
It depends on what your family needs. Reduced paid-up ends premiums permanently and keeps a smaller death benefit, which suits someone who wants coverage without bills. A settlement suits someone who no longer needs the coverage and does need cash, often for care costs or a Medicaid spend-down.
I have a loan against the policy. Can I still sell it?
Usually yes, but the outstanding loan and accrued interest are netted out of the proceeds because the buyer takes the policy subject to that debt. Get the current payoff amount from the service center early so the offer numbers are not a surprise.
How long does the process take?
Plan on roughly 60 to 120 days from application to funded payment. Gathering medical records is the most common delay. Your funds should sit with an independent escrow agent until the carrier confirms the ownership transfer.
What do I need to send for a free review?
Only the policy cover page, showing the insurer, policy number, face amount, and issue date. There is no cost and no obligation. You can also call (305) 209-7183 if you would rather talk it through first.
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
- Life Settlement Vs Surrender
- Cash Surrender Value Life Insurance
- What Policies Qualify For Life Settlement
- How It Works Policy Options
- Sell My North American Universal Life Policy
- Sell My North American 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.