August 7, 2026
3:42 pm

Can You Sell a Washington National Term Life Policy? (2026)

Coverage bought at work is not automatically group coverage, and on a Washington National file that distinction is worth checking before anything else. Worksite-marketed individual policies are sold through payroll deduction but issued as individual contracts in the employee’s name, which means the employee owns them, keeps them after leaving the job, and could in principle transfer them. True group coverage works the other way: the employer or a trust owns a master policy and the employee holds only a certificate, which cannot be sold because there is nothing to transfer. Washington National distributes substantially through worksite and career-agent channels, so both structures turn up.

Once ownership is settled, the analysis is the same one that applies to any term policy anywhere. Term insurance has market value only while it can still be converted into permanent coverage. A buyer in the life settlement market is purchasing a death benefit that will eventually be claimed, and a term certificate that expires on schedule pays nothing to anybody. What can be worth money is the contractual right to exchange the term policy for a permanent one, at the original risk class, without new medical questions — and that right usually expires years before the level premium period does.

This page is organized around documents rather than theory, because five specific pieces of paper answer every question that matters here. It also covers Washington National’s corporate history, which explains why a policy in your drawer may carry a company name you have never heard of, and it is direct about the face amounts at which no market exists.

In This Article

Who owns the policy? Worksite individual versus group
Why the conversion provision is the only asset in a term contract
Five documents, five answers
Why your policy may say a company you do not recognize
Face amounts in the middle market, and the market’s floor
What to do instead, and what to send
Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Sell a Washington National Term Life Policy? (2026)

Who owns the policy? Worksite individual versus group

Read the first two lines of the document.

An individual policy is titled a policy, names you as owner, carries your own policy number, and continues on direct bill if you leave the employer. Worksite-marketed individual life is sold this way: the employer facilitates enrollment and payroll deduction, but the contract belongs to you. You may sell it if it otherwise qualifies, and no employer consent is required.

A group certificate is titled a certificate of coverage and names an employer, association, or trust as the policyholder. The insurer issued one master policy to that entity. You are the insured and you may have named the beneficiary, but you are not the owner, so there is no ownership interest for you to transfer. This is structural, not a technicality anyone can work around. Our page on whether you can sell a group life insurance policy covers the general case.

Group coverage does carry a conversion right, ordinarily exercisable within about 31 days of the date coverage ends, exchanging the group coverage for an individual permanent policy without new underwriting. That window is short and it is enforced. If you also elected portability — continuing group term on direct bill — be aware that portability keeps you on the master policy and some plans extinguish the conversion right the moment portability is chosen. Get your plan’s rule in writing.

If you hold a worksite individual policy, none of that applies and you can go straight to the conversion provision inside your own contract.

Why the conversion provision is the only asset in a term contract

Level term is priced on the actuarial expectation that the great majority of these policies lapse or expire without ever paying a claim. That is precisely why term premiums are a fraction of permanent premiums for the same face amount. From a buyer’s standpoint, a term contract with no conversion right and no cash value is an expense with a countdown attached and no terminal payoff.

The conversion provision changes that. It grants the right to exchange the term policy for a permanent policy with the same carrier, at the insured’s original risk classification, with no new medical questions and no exam. For an insured who has since developed a serious condition, that right is often the only way permanent coverage can still be obtained at any price, which is what gives it value.

Two dimensions of the right have to be documented. The deadline, which carriers express as a number of policy years, an attained age, or the earlier of the two — a 20-year term issued at 54 might be convertible only through policy year 10 or age 65, ending the option long before the premium jump that finally prompts a phone call. And the available plans, since some contracts permit conversion into any current permanent product while others limit you to one designated conversion plan whose premium may sit above the retail lineup. That premium matters directly, because whoever owns the policy afterward funds it for the rest of the insured’s life, and a high one suppresses offers.

Our explainer on what a term conversion rider is covers the structure, the broader framework is at selling a term life policy, and if the date is close, see term conversion deadline approaching.

Five documents, five answers

Rather than theorizing, gather these five items. Each answers one question, and together they settle the case.

The policy or certificate cover page. Answers: who owns it, what company issued it, the form number, the face amount, the issue date, and the level premium period. This one document eliminates most files immediately, either because the coverage is a certificate or because the face amount is too small.
The conversion provision, or a written statement of its terms. Answers: is the option still open, until what calendar date, into which permanent plan, and is partial conversion permitted. Request a calendar date rather than a formula, and ask for it in writing — a phone call in which someone says you should still be able to convert is not a document and nobody evaluating the policy will treat it as one.
A converted premium quotation at the insured’s attained age. Answers: what the permanent policy would actually cost, which is the single largest input into any offer.
The rider schedule. Answers: whether an accelerated death benefit, waiver of premium, return-of-premium, or child rider is attached. Owners routinely hold benefits they never use because nobody told them the rider existed.
The most recent premium notice. Answers: what is actually being paid today and whether any reduction schedule or rate change has applied.

If you cannot locate the contract, request a duplicate policy at the same time as the written conversion terms. The conversion provision lives in the policy and nowhere else — not on the premium notice, not in the enrollment brochure. And note that the form number governs your rights rather than the marketing name: two policies issued three years apart under the same brand can differ materially if the form changed. Give the servicer the policy number and ask for the contract matching your specific form. The full list of what a transaction eventually requires is at converting term and then selling.

Document	Question it answers	Where to get it
Policy or certificate cover page	Who owns it, face amount, issue date, form number	Your file, or request a duplicate policy
Conversion provision, in writing	Is the option open, until what date, into what plan	Written request to the servicer
Converted premium quotation	What the permanent policy would actually cost	Written request to the servicer
Rider schedule	Accelerated benefit, waiver, return-of-premium riders	Attached to the policy contract
Most recent premium notice	Current premium and any rate or benefit change	Your mail or the servicer’s records
Return-of-premium figures	Endowment date, refund amount, surrender value	Written request, if your form has the feature

Why your policy may say a company you do not recognize

Washington National Insurance Company was organized in Illinois in 1911, originally writing health and accident coverage for teachers before broadening to the general public and adding life insurance. Its home office is in Carmel, Indiana, and it operates as a subsidiary of CNO Financial Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation headquartered in Carmel, alongside Bankers Life and Casualty Company and Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. On the domiciliary state we prefer precision to convenience: the company was organized under Illinois law and the Illinois Department of Insurance has examined it as recently as the mid-2010s, while the home office is in Indiana. If the domicile matters to your question, confirm it through the NAIC’s Consumer Information Source or by asking the company, rather than inferring it from a mailing address.

The sequence that explains old paperwork: Conseco acquired Washington National in 1997. Conseco, Inc., the holding company, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in December 2002 and emerged in 2003 — the regulated insurance subsidiaries were not the bankruptcy debtor, remained under state insurance department supervision with their own capital requirements, and policyholder contracts continued in force throughout. In 2009 Conseco Insurance Company was merged into Washington National, consolidating blocks under one company. In 2010 the holding company was renamed CNO Financial Group.

So a policy bearing the Conseco name is serviced by Washington National today, with its original terms intact. Mergers, redomestications, and holding company reorganizations move administration and financial backing; they never rewrite an issued contract. If correspondence arrives under an unfamiliar name, request written confirmation of the servicing entity and file it with the policy.

Washington National has marketed individual term life products, and CNO press materials have described a term offering positioned around a return-of-premium style benefit. We are not going to assert the specific features of a product you may or may not hold — verify what is in your contract from the form itself rather than from marketing language, because return-of-premium provisions vary substantially in what they return and when.

Face amounts in the middle market, and the market’s floor

Washington National’s channels serve the worksite and senior middle market, where policies are sized to household needs rather than to estate tax bills. That produces face amounts well below what the life settlement market can work with, and it is the single most common reason a file from this carrier goes nowhere.

The market applies a working minimum of roughly $100,000 in death benefit. The floor is structural rather than a matter of anyone’s willingness to negotiate. A buyer’s costs are largely fixed: independent life expectancy reports from underwriting firms, legal review of the assignment and ownership documents, escrow administration, verification of coverage with the carrier, and then decades of premium payment and policy tracking. Those costs are nearly identical on a $60,000 policy and a $600,000 policy, so at small face amounts they consume the entire economics. Our page on the minimum policy size for a life settlement works through the arithmetic.

The other standard disqualifiers apply too. An expired conversion window is final — carriers do not reopen expired conversion rights, no relationship in the industry recovers one, and a party claiming otherwise should end your interest in working with them. An insured under about 65 in reasonable health produces a long projected life expectancy, decades of projected premium, and usually no offer at all rather than a low one. A conversion product priced so that the premium stream approaches the discounted death benefit draws no bids. And coverage that the family still genuinely needs should not be sold at all, whatever the arithmetic says.

The narrow exception in the other direction: where the insured is terminally or chronically ill and the projected claim date sits comfortably inside the remaining level period, a viatical settlement on a term policy can be possible. That turns on medical documentation and on enough level term remaining, not on the policy alone.

What to do instead, and what to send

Where no market exists, real options remain, and several cost nothing to explore.

Partial conversion, if the provision permits it — converting a portion of the face amount and letting the balance expire keeps the permanent premium payable while preserving coverage the family may still need.
A return-of-premium provision, if your form carries one. Establish the endowment date, the exact amount scheduled to be returned, and the current surrender value, all in writing. For an insured in reasonable health within a few years of endowment, holding to the refund date often beats every other option, and early surrender typically returns only a fraction of premiums paid. Our page on a return-of-premium term policy covers the trade-offs.
An accelerated death benefit provision, which may pay part of the face amount during a qualifying terminal illness at no additional cost. Many owners hold one and do not know it.
Keeping the coverage and addressing affordability directly, through a lower face amount or a different payment mode.

For a free policy review, send the policy or certificate cover page, the most recent premium notice, and the conversion provision if you can locate it. From those a reviewer can determine the ownership structure, the remaining level period, whether the conversion right appears open, the face amount at stake, and whether the size clears the market’s working minimum — usually within one conversation.

Withhold medical records, Social Security numbers, and bank information at this stage. Nobody needs them to tell you whether a policy is worth pursuing, and an early request for them is a reason to stop and ask why. There is no legitimate upfront fee for a policy evaluation. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and a free policy review; we do not provide legal, tax, or investment advice, and anything with tax or estate consequences belongs with your own CPA or attorney before you sign. If the contract turns out to be a permanent one, start with our page on a Washington National indexed universal life policy. To reach a reviewer, call (305) 209-7183 with the cover page in front of you.

Frequently Asked Questions

I bought this policy at work. Does that make it group coverage?

Not necessarily. Worksite-marketed individual life is sold through payroll deduction but issued as an individual contract in your name, which you own and keep after leaving the employer. True group coverage names the employer or a trust as policyholder and gives you only a certificate. Read the first two lines of the document: a policy naming you as owner is individual, a certificate of coverage is not.

How do I find my conversion deadline?

Look for a provision or rider titled Conversion Privilege, Conversion Option, or Right to Convert. Rather than interpreting the formula, ask the servicer in writing to state the calendar date on which the right expires, the permanent plans available to you, and whether partial conversion is permitted. Request a duplicate policy at the same time if you do not have the contract.

My policy says Conseco. Who services it now?

Washington National. Conseco Insurance Company was merged into Washington National in 2009, consolidating blocks under one company, and the original contract terms carry over unchanged because a merger never rewrites an issued policy. If you want it confirmed, request a written statement of the current servicing entity and keep that letter with your policy for future reference.

Is a $50,000 term policy worth shopping to buyers?

Realistically no. The settlement market applies a working minimum of roughly $100,000 because a buyer’s costs are largely fixed regardless of policy size: life expectancy reports, legal review, escrow administration, verification of coverage, and decades of premium payment and tracking. Below that level those fixed costs consume the entire economics and most buyers decline to bid at all.

Should I convert my term policy first or have it reviewed first?

Have it reviewed first, while it is still term. A review tells you whether the resulting permanent policy would attract institutional interest before you commit to permanent premiums, which typically run several times the term premium. Converting first and asking afterward is the most expensive mistake available here. Gather the written conversion terms and a premium quote, then have someone read the file.

What is a return-of-premium term policy worth to me?

It depends on three numbers you should request in writing: the endowment date, the exact amount scheduled to be refunded on that date, and today’s surrender value. For an insured in reasonable health within a few years of endowment, holding the policy and collecting the refund often beats any settlement offer, and early surrender typically returns only a fraction of premiums paid.

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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