August 7, 2026
3:39 pm

Can You Sell a Sun Life Term Life Policy? (2026)

If your Sun Life coverage came through an employer, the most important number on this page is 31 — as in roughly 31 days from the date coverage ends to exercise conversion or portability rights, after which they generally disappear for good. That is a far shorter clock than anything in the individual life world, and it is the single most common way people lose real value without realizing a decision was in front of them.

Sun Life’s presence in the United States today is overwhelmingly a group benefits business — group life, disability, dental and related coverages sold to employers, run out of Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and expanded through the acquisition of Assurant’s employee benefits business in 2016 and DentaQuest in 2022. Sun Life announced in late 2011 that it would stop selling individual life and variable annuity products in the U.S., and on August 2, 2013 Delaware Life Holdings, owned by shareholders of Guggenheim Partners, completed the purchase of Sun Life’s U.S. annuity business and certain life businesses for about $1.35 billion. The acquired companies were renamed Delaware Life Insurance Company.

So there are two very different situations behind this question, with different deadlines, different administrators and different answers. Work out which one you are in before doing anything else.

In This Article

Group Certificate or Individual Policy? Tell Them Apart in Two Minutes
The Short Clock on Group Life
Choosing Between Conversion and Portability
Whether Converted Group Coverage Can Then Be Sold
Individual Term From the Old Sun Life Block
Canadian Policies, Employer-Owned Coverage, and Verification
Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Sell a Sun Life Term Life Policy? (2026)

Group Certificate or Individual Policy? Tell Them Apart in Two Minutes

A group certificate says certificate of insurance rather than policy, names your employer, union or association as the policyholder, gives a certificate number rather than a policy number, and usually expresses coverage as a multiple of salary or a flat schedule amount. You do not own the master contract — the employer does. Your rights are described in the certificate and, more completely, in the master policy or summary plan description.

An individual policy names you as the owner, has a policy number, a stated face amount, a premium billed to you directly, and a set of riders listed on the specifications page.

Two follow-up checks. If it is an individual policy from the old Sun Life U.S. block, look at the return address on your most recent notice — it will very likely say Delaware Life, and the relevant carrier page is selling a Delaware Life term policy. If you are unsure whether a policy still exists at all, the steps in how to find out if a policy still exists apply, including state insurance department policy locator services.

A third possibility: a Canadian Sun Life policy. Sun Life Financial is headquartered in Toronto and has a large Canadian individual life business. That is a different regulatory world, addressed near the end of this page.

The Short Clock on Group Life

When group life coverage ends because of retirement, termination, a reduction in hours, or the employer changing carriers, two rights typically become available and both are election-based with short windows.

Conversion is the right to exchange the group certificate for an individual permanent policy issued by the group insurer, without evidence of insurability. The election window is commonly around 31 days from the date coverage ends. The premium is set at attained age and is usually expensive, and the permanent forms available for conversion may be limited.

Portability is the right to continue group term coverage as an individual at group rates. Windows are similarly short, health questions sometimes apply, and coverage often terminates at a stated age.

Miss the window and both rights are generally gone permanently, with no appeal. That makes group life one of the very few areas where acting within days genuinely matters. The mechanics are set out in what is group life conversion.

What to request immediately, in writing, from the benefits administrator and the insurer: the exact date coverage ends or ended; the conversion and portability election deadlines; the conversion application form; the permanent forms available and the attained-age premium for each; the maximum amount convertible; and a copy of the master policy or summary plan description, since the certificate rarely states the full terms.

Choosing Between Conversion and Portability

These are not interchangeable and the right choice depends on health and horizon.

Portability generally suits a healthy person with a temporary need. It keeps term coverage at group-scale pricing, which is cheaper in the near term, but it usually expires at a stated age and it does not build any permanent benefit. If health questions apply and the answer is poor health, portability may not be available at all.

Conversion generally suits someone whose health has declined. The whole value of the privilege is that no evidence of insurability is required. An insured who could not qualify for new coverage anywhere is precisely the person for whom conversion is worth its high price, because the resulting permanent policy will be paid.

Partial conversion is worth asking about. Many plans allow converting less than the full amount. Converting $50,000 of a $300,000 group benefit costs a fraction of a full conversion and produces permanent coverage the household can actually sustain.

One frequently missed detail: some group plans provide a small amount of paid-up or continued coverage at retirement at no cost, or a reduced schedule that steps down at 65 and again at 70. Read the schedule rather than assuming the coverage simply ends.

Situation	Deadline that matters	Who to contact	Salable?
Active group life certificate	None yet	Benefits administrator	No, not until converted
Group life ending at retirement or termination	Roughly 31 days to elect	Benefits administrator and the insurer	Only after conversion, subject to size and health
Converted individual permanent policy	None; check new contestability	The issuing insurer	Possibly, above provider minimums
Individual term from the closed U.S. block	The conversion deadline in your contract	Delaware Life as administrator	Only while convertible, with size and health
Corporate or bank-owned life insurance	Not applicable	Plan sponsor	No; the institution owns it
Canadian individual policy	Not applicable	Sun Life in Canada	Generally no

Choosing Between Conversion and Portability

Whether Converted Group Coverage Can Then Be Sold

This is where people usually arrive at this page, and the answer is a qualified yes with real conditions.

A group certificate itself is not a salable asset. You do not own the master policy, and the certificate terminates when your eligibility does. Once converted into an individual permanent policy that you own, it becomes an ordinary life insurance contract and can in principle be reviewed like any other. The details are in can I sell a group life insurance policy.

The conditions that follow are the same screen buyers apply everywhere:

Face amount. Above roughly $100,000 of net death benefit, with many buyers declining anything under $250,000. Group life amounts are often one or two times salary, which frequently lands below the line.
Age and health. Insured typically over 70, or younger with a significant documented impairment. Life expectancy drives all the discounting.
Contestability. Converted policies may carry their own contestability period from the conversion date, depending on the form. Ask the insurer directly rather than assuming the group coverage’s history carries over.
Premium load. The buyer must fund the converted policy’s attained-age premium for the whole holding period, which comes straight out of the offer.

The size threshold is the one that most often decides it — see minimum policy size for a life settlement. And be realistic about timing: a settlement takes months, and the conversion deadline runs in days, so conversion must be decided on its own merits first.

Individual Term From the Old Sun Life Block

If instead you hold an individual term policy issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.S.) or Sun Life Insurance and Annuity Company of New York, the block is closed and administered by Delaware Life Insurance Company or its New York affiliate. The contract terms did not change when the block transferred — only the service center, the correspondence address, and the insurance department with primary oversight of the insurer.

The analysis is then the standard term analysis. A buyer needs a policy that will exist at death, which means a live conversion right. Find the deadline in three places and reconcile them: the specifications page, the conversion provision inside the contract, and written confirmation from the administrator. Conversion windows usually close earlier than the level premium period, commonly at an attained age such as 65 or 70 or at a fixed policy year, whichever comes first. Structure is covered in what is a term conversion rider and the category overview in selling a term life policy.

Ask the administrator in the same written request for: confirmation the policy is in force and paid to date; the conversion deadline as a calendar date; the permanent forms available; the attained-age premium for each and separately the premium that guarantees coverage to age 100; whether partial conversion is allowed and the minimum; and which riders survive conversion.

Canadian Policies, Employer-Owned Coverage, and Verification

Three situations where the answer is a clean no, and it is better to hear it now.

A Canadian-issued Sun Life policy. The U.S. secondary market does not extend to Canada. Most Canadian provinces prohibit trafficking in life insurance policies, and only a small number permit any form of viatical or life settlement transaction. Confirm the current position with your own provincial regulator, and treat any offer from a U.S. buyer to purchase a Canadian policy with real suspicion. Check the currency of the death benefit and the province or state of issue printed on the contract if you are unsure which you hold.

Employer-owned coverage on your life. Corporate-owned and bank-owned life insurance is owned by the employer or institution, which holds every right under the contract. The insured employee has nothing to sell.

A group certificate you have not converted. Nothing to transfer until it becomes an individual policy you own.

For verification, two regulators matter. Sun Life’s U.S. group business operates out of Massachusetts, so the Massachusetts Division of Insurance is a sensible starting point for a group-coverage dispute, though the state where you work or live may also have jurisdiction and employer plans may be subject to federal law as well. For the old individual block now held by Delaware Life, the insurer’s domiciliary regulator is Delaware, and Delaware’s life settlement provisions are in Title 18 of the Delaware Code — see life settlement licensing in Delaware. A settlement transaction itself is always governed by the law of the state where the policy owner lives.

Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies and is not licensed in every state. We read the certificate or policy, tell you which deadline is actually running, and say plainly when the honest answer is to convert a portion for your own protection rather than pursue a sale that will not clear the size threshold. That review is free — send the certificate or cover page, or call (305) 209-7183.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to convert group life at retirement?

Typically around 31 days from the date coverage ends, though it varies by plan, and portability windows are similarly short. Both are election-based rights that generally disappear permanently if the deadline passes. Request the master policy or summary plan description, the exact end date of coverage, and the conversion application from your benefits administrator immediately and in writing.

Can I sell my group life certificate?

No. Your employer or association owns the master policy and you hold a certificate whose coverage ends with your eligibility. There is nothing transferable to a buyer. Once you convert the certificate into an individual permanent policy that you own, it becomes an ordinary life insurance contract that can be evaluated like any other, subject to the usual size and health thresholds.

Should I choose conversion or portability?

Conversion generally suits someone whose health has declined, because it requires no evidence of insurability and produces permanent coverage that will be paid. Portability generally suits a healthy person with a temporary need, since it continues group term at cheaper near-term pricing but usually expires at a stated age. Ask whether partial conversion is permitted, since it is often the affordable middle path.

Who services my old individual Sun Life policy?

Almost certainly Delaware Life Insurance Company, or its New York affiliate for New York-issued contracts. Delaware Life Holdings completed the purchase of Sun Life’s U.S. annuity and certain life businesses on August 2, 2013, and the acquired companies were renamed. Contract terms did not change; only the service center, correspondence address and primary regulator did.

Does a converted policy have a new contestability period?

It may, depending on the form and the insurer’s practice. Because buyers will not close on a contract that could still be rescinded, this is worth confirming in writing with the issuing insurer rather than assuming the group coverage’s history carries over. Ask specifically whether the converted policy carries a contestability period running from the conversion date.

I hold a Canadian Sun Life policy. What are my options?

Selling is generally not available. Most Canadian provinces prohibit trafficking in life insurance policies, and only a small number permit any viatical or life settlement transaction, so confirm the current position with your provincial regulator. Focus instead on options inside the contract: reducing coverage, using accumulated value, exercising a living benefit rider, or a paid-up election.

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.

Call (305) 209-7183 · Request a review online →

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