The department shall exclude a life insurance policy if an individual owns the policy and the policy has a face value of $1,500 or less. If the face value of the policy exceeds $1,500 the cash surrender value is considered a resource. If the individual owns more than one life insurance policy on the same insured, the face value of all the policies must be added together. If the total of the face values exceed $1,500, the cash surrender value of all the policies is considered a resource. The $1,500 face value exclusion applies to each individual separately. Life insurance policies which do not have a cash surrender value, such as term insurance and burial insurance which by its terms can only be used to pay the burial expenses of the insured, are not included when determining the total value of all policies.
Dividend accumulations received but left in the custody of the insurer to accumulate interest are not a value of the policy but are considered a resource.
Dividends reverted to increase the policy death benefit and cash surrender value are considered policy additions and are not included in the face value when determining whether a policy is a countable or excluded resource. If the policy is a countable resource, the cash surrender value of these dividends is included in the resource value of the policy. If the policy is excluded as a resource the cash surrender value of these dividends is not considered when determining the individual's countable resources.
S.D. Admin. R. 67:46:05:37
General Authority: SDCL 28-6-1.
Law Implemented: SDCL 28-6-1.