Annuities and trustee

[jack3454]

Is it across-the-board illegal to submit an annuity contract as the agent, if you're also listed as a trustee on the persons trust? Athene said it goes against their code of conduct and that it was unlawful but I wasn't sure if this was a company thing or State thing.

 

[Allen Trent]

Is it across-the-board illegal to submit an annuity contract as the agent, if you're also listed as a trustee on the persons trust? Athene said it goes against their code of conduct and that it was unlawful but I wasn't sure if this was a company thing or State thing.

Not heard of that specifically. However, it can't be that cut & dry as tons of people are trustees of their own trust, so are they saying you can't write an annuity for yourself in your trust if you are the trustee of your own money?

Also, is the trust the owner or the beneficiary? If merely the beneficiary, this seems odd as beneficiary has no rights to policy, the owner does

I can see their point if trust is owner as you would be acting as both agent & then also being in control to take all money out or change beneficiary to yourself & they see that as a conflict of interest & you owe a fiduciary standard to the trust beneficiaries, so that could expose them to legal issues as you are acting as their agent in the transaction & as fiduciary to the trust beneficiaries

 

[DHK]

I'm guessing he's the trustee for someone else's trust - within the family so it would be controlled business - but not his own.

Considering recent headlines lately of agents/advisors behaving badly, I can appreciate Athene trying to be proactive against the possibility of an issue with the beneficiaries of the trust. However, if you were really trying to do something illicit, I doubt you (anyone really) would put it right on the application.

Of course, I also wonder if the same would be true if you were the trustee for a trust for an investment account of securities? You'd be compensated as the investment advisor and perhaps as a trustee of the trust (administrative compensation).

Sometimes annuity companies make it hard to like them.