Yes — a Securian Financial or Minnesota Life survivorship (second-to-die) policy can be sold in a life settlement when the contract and its owner qualify, and the carrier’s permission is not required, because the policy is transferable property belonging to its owner. If your paperwork carries one name and your statements carry the other, nothing is wrong: Minnesota Life Insurance Company is the issuing insurer within the Securian Financial group, and the group rebranded its consumer-facing identity to Securian Financial in 2016.
Securian, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, operates under a mutual holding company structure and has been an active writer of estate-planning life insurance, including survivorship universal life and indexed survivorship designs sold through independent producers and institutional channels. Many of those contracts are held by irrevocable life insurance trusts created decades ago.
This page explains the joint-mortality math that governs survivorship offers, why a first death is the turning point, what a trustee must gather, exactly what to request from the carrier, and when keeping or shrinking the policy is the better recommendation. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with Securian Financial or Minnesota Life. Nothing here is legal, tax or investment advice. Free policy review: send the policy cover page, or call (305) 209-7183.
In This Article
- Securian, Minnesota Life, and Which Name Is on Your Contract
- Why Buyers Discount Joint-Life Contracts
- The First Death Turns the Corner
- When the Coverage Purpose Disappears
- Trustee Authority and the Documents That Prove It
- What to Order From the Carrier
- Choosing Among Keep, Reduce, Surrender and Sell
- Frequently Asked Questions
Securian, Minnesota Life, and Which Name Is on Your Contract
Minnesota Life Insurance Company traces back to 1880 and is the primary issuing insurer in the Securian Financial group; Securian Life Insurance Company issues certain other products. The Securian Financial brand became the group’s public identity in 2016, which is why older contracts say Minnesota Life while recent correspondence says Securian. Your ownership rights, guarantees and contract terms are unaffected by the branding change.
What does matter is identifying the exact issuing entity and product form on your contract, because that determines where servicing and illustration requests go. As of 2026, confirm with the carrier whether the survivorship product named on your policy remains open for new sales or is a closed in-force block being administered. Several carriers have narrowed their survivorship shelf over the past decade. Closed-block status does not affect your right to sell or the carrier’s obligation to pay claims, but it can limit which policy changes the carrier will still process.
Why Buyers Discount Joint-Life Contracts
Settlement pricing is a present-value calculation: death benefit, minus premiums paid while waiting, discounted back to today. A survivorship contract pays only after the second insured dies, so a buyer must commission two life expectancy reports and model the joint distribution of two deaths. The expected payout date always lands later than either individual expectancy.
Three consistent effects. Offers on survivorship contracts generally fall below the roughly 10% to 35% of face value associated with qualifying single-life settlements (GAO-10-775), and a substantial share of these policies draw no bid at all. An illness affecting only one insured has muted pricing effect because the healthier life still governs timing. And fewer institutional buyers underwrite joint-life paper, so the competitive bidding that normally lifts an offer is thin. See how buyers price a policy and why offers vary between buyers.
The First Death Turns the Corner
After one insured dies, the contract is economically single-life coverage on the survivor: one expectancy, one medical file, a payout horizon no longer buried behind joint mortality. Providers who declined the policy while both spouses were living often reconsider afterward.
That is the most frequent route to a viable survivorship transaction, and it usually surfaces a stale plan — a surviving spouse still funding premiums on liquidity coverage for an estate tax the surviving estate will not owe. Gather the deceased insured’s death certificate and the current annual statement before requesting a review. Related: a survivorship policy after a first death and options for a widowed policyholder.
| Name on Paperwork | What It Refers To | Effect on Your Rights |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Life Insurance Company | Primary issuing insurer in the group | None; contract terms unchanged |
| Securian Life Insurance Company | Affiliated issuing insurer for certain products | None; determines servicing routing |
| Securian Financial | Group brand adopted in 2016 | Branding only; no contract change |
| Closed in-force block | Product no longer sold to new buyers | Serviced normally; some changes may be limited |
| Trust listed as owner | ILIT holds the policy | Trustee signs, not the insureds |
When the Coverage Purpose Disappears
Survivorship policies are built for narrow jobs, and the jobs end. Recurring triggers: the federal estate tax exemption rising above the couple’s projected taxable estate; state-level change — Minnesota, where the carrier is domiciled, operates its own estate tax with a threshold well below the federal exemption, while many states impose none at all, so confirm your own state’s current rules with a tax advisor as of 2026; a business buy-sell obligation ending on a sale or retirement; a farm or closely held asset sold, eliminating the illiquidity problem the policy solved; adult children who no longer need an inheritance backstop; or an ILIT whose annual gifting and notice routine has become an unwanted burden.
Once the purpose is gone, the question is which exit fits best. Related: when the estate plan changes and a buy-sell policy no longer needed.
Trustee Authority and the Documents That Prove It
Where an irrevocable life insurance trust owns the policy, the trust sells and the trustee signs. Before anything moves, assemble the executed trust instrument, written confirmation of who currently serves as trustee, and any successor appointments or resignations. Discovering mid-process that the named trustee died or resigned — and that a successor must be appointed — is one of the most common causes of delay in these files.
Trustees act as fiduciaries. A defensible record documents the alternatives considered, the reasoning that a sale serves the beneficiaries better than continued premium funding, and any consents the trust instrument or state law requires. Where annual exclusion gifts funded premiums, Crummey withdrawal notices should have gone to beneficiaries each year; buyers’ counsel sometimes ask for that history, and gaps can raise gift-tax questions for the family’s own counsel. Read: selling an ILIT-owned policy, trust-owned policy sales, whether beneficiaries must agree.
What to Order From the Carrier
Request a current in-force illustration and specify the runs: minimum premium to carry the contract to maturity on both lives; guaranteed-assumption alongside current-assumption; the effect of any outstanding policy loan with projected interest; and written confirmation of whether any no-lapse or secondary guarantee is still in force and what premium schedule preserves it. On indexed survivorship contracts, request projections at more than one assumed crediting rate — a single optimistic illustration is a poor basis for a decision that cannot be undone.
Confirm the two-year rules as well. Contestability runs two years from issue and restarts on reinstatement, and both insureds’ application statements are in scope on a survivorship policy. State life settlement statutes typically add a separate waiting period, commonly two years from issue, with hardship exceptions that vary; confirm your state’s rule with its insurance department. Background: in-force illustrations, contestability, documents needed.
Choosing Among Keep, Reduce, Surrender and Sell
Keeping the policy is the benchmark. If the premium is affordable and a secondary guarantee is intact, the guaranteed death benefit generally exceeds what any buyer would rationally pay for a distant payout. Reducing the face amount is the underused middle path — the carrier can quote a smaller policy at a premium the family can sustain, preserving part of the plan. Surrender is fast but usually the weakest exit, and survivorship universal life often carries modest cash value relative to face amount. A settlement earns its place when the coverage purpose is genuinely gone, the premium is unaffordable, a first death has occurred, or the realistic alternative is lapse for nothing.
Compare on paper with settlement versus keeping and surrender versus sale. Plan on roughly 60 to 120 days for a completed transaction, longer where two medical files and a trustee are involved.
To find out where your contract stands, send the policy cover page — insurer, policy number, face amount, issue date and both insureds — for a free, no-obligation policy review, or call (305) 209-7183. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with Securian Financial or Minnesota Life and does not provide legal, tax or investment advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
My policy says Minnesota Life but my mail says Securian. Which is it?
Both. Minnesota Life Insurance Company is the issuing insurer within the Securian Financial group, and the group adopted the Securian Financial brand in 2016. Your contract terms and ownership rights are unchanged. Confirm the current servicing details with the carrier as of 2026.
Does the carrier have to approve a sale?
No. The owner may transfer the policy, and the carrier records the ownership and beneficiary change once the transaction closes. Pine Lake Life Solutions is not affiliated with Securian Financial or Minnesota Life.
Why are survivorship offers lower?
The death benefit is not payable until both insureds have died, so a buyer projects many more premium years before any return, which lowers present value. Fewer providers underwrite joint-life paper, so competitive pressure on price is weaker as well.
What if one insured has already died?
The contract is then valued like single-life coverage on the surviving insured, which usually improves buyer interest substantially. You will need the death certificate for the file along with the most recent annual statement.
How do I check whether the no-lapse guarantee is intact?
Ask the carrier for written confirmation of the guarantee status and the exact premium schedule required to maintain it. Guarantees can be broken by a single late or short payment, and many owners do not discover this until they ask directly.
Who signs when a trust owns the policy?
The current trustee signs as seller. You will need the executed trust document and confirmation of any successor trustee appointments. Trustees should obtain independent legal advice about fiduciary duties and any beneficiary consents required.
Can a policy issued last year be sold?
No. Contestability runs two years from issue or reinstatement, and most state settlement statutes impose their own waiting period, commonly two years, with narrow hardship exceptions. Confirm the applicable rule with your state insurance department.
What is the first step?
Send the policy cover page showing the carrier, policy number, face amount, issue date and both insureds. That is enough for a free, no-obligation review, with no commitment to proceed afterward.
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Related Reading
- Can I Sell A Survivorship Life Policy
- Survivorship Policy First Death
- Sell Ilit Trust Owned Policy
- Can I Sell A Policy Owned By A Trust
- Do My Beneficiaries Have To Agree
- How Life Settlement Buyers Price A Policy
- Why Life Settlement Offers Vary Between Buyers
- What Is An In Force Illustration
- What Is The Contestability Period
- Surrender Vs Sell 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.