Matilda named beneficiary of Heath Ledger life insurance money

HEATH Ledger's three-year-old daughter Matilda has been officially named the sole benefactor of his life insurance policy after a legal battle.
After a 30-minute court hearing in Los Angeles, Matilda's custodian John Laviolette and lawyer William Shernoff emerged from Superior Court judge Luis Lavin's chambers wearing smiles.

“It is finalised and everybody is mutually happy,” Mr Laviolette told AAP.

Asked if the money would go to Matilda, Mr Shernoff replied “Yes. Everyone is happy”.

Ledger took out the life insurance policy seven months before his naked body was found on January 22, 2008, in a Manhattan loft apartment he was renting.

He named Matilda as the benefactor.

An autopsy by the New York Medical Examiner's Office found the Perth-born 28-year-old Oscar winner died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, including painkillers and sleeping pills.

Despite the ruling, Minnesota-based insurance company ReliaStar declined to pay the $US10 million until it held its own investigation into the actor's death, including whether he committed suicide.

ReliaStar planned to interview the masseuse who found Ledger's body and actress Mary-Kate Olsen, owner of the apartment and recipient of several phone calls from the masseuse soon after Ledger's body was found.

Matilda's legal team responded to the delay by threatening to sue ReliaStar for “tens of millions of dollars” in punitive damages for emotional distress inflicted on Ledger's loved ones.

Last month, Mr Shernoff and ReliaStar's lawyer Margaret Levy announced the parties had reached a settlement.

The public will likely never know the details of the settlement and how much Matilda will receive after Judge Lavin last month ordered the proceedings be held in private and the outcome sealed.

The judge said that while Matilda's father won a posthumous best supporting actor Oscar last month for The Dark Knight, Matilda was just three and should be protected.

“She is not a celebrity,” Judge Lavin told the court on February 23.

“She is a minor child.”

The payout could exceed the $US10 million as Shernoff had raised the issue of interest being paid from the delay.

“We are pleased with the settlement,” said Mr Shernoff, declining to discuss details of the case.

“The parties are happy that the result is to their mutual satisfaction.”

Ms Levy also said outside court ReliaStar was pleased with the outcome.

Matilda lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her mother and Ledger's former fiancee, actress Michelle Williams.

Source:http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

New York Life Insurance elects new board member

New York Life Insurance Company has elected William Walter as a new member of the board of directors. He will join the board's insurance and operations committee.

Mr Walter is chairman, president and CEO of FMC Corporation, a manufacturer of agricultural, specialty and industrial chemicals, headquartered in Philadelphia.

Mr Walter holds an MBA in marketing and finance from Northwestern University and received a bachelor of science in economics from Loras College.

Sy Sternberg, chairman of the board at New York Life Insurance, said: "William Walter is bringing a wealth of business leadership experience to a board filled with talented directors from diverse industries and government. Bill is an accomplished professional who will be a tremendous asset to the New York Life board."

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Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site

Same Cheap Car Insurance Quotes, New Owner.

Chicago (PRWEB) December 19, 2008 -- Internet start-up, Tomarro Media, recently acquired Insure-Net.com to provide users with a quick and easy way to compare insurance quotes. Insure-Net.com was originally created in the early 1990's along with many other dot-com hopefuls, but never got off the ground. The site was purchased and redesigned by Tomarro Media in the fourth quarter of 2008. It has already become a fierce competitor in the market by gaining top search engine rankings and helping thousands of users get free insurance quotes.

Insure-Net.com offers users an efficient and simple way to get free insurance quotes for home, health, life and auto insurance. This site serves as a connection between people shopping for insurance quotes and insurance agents offering great rates. Site visitors simply fill out a short, basic form. Then, they will be contacted by up to five top insurance agents in their area who will offer the most complete coverage at the lowest possible price. All the site visitor has to do is pick the plan is right for them. Many save hundreds of dollars a year when they are shopping for more affordable home, health, life and cheap car insurance.

With more and more companies offering similar services, this model for searching for insurance quotes is not unique. However, Insure-Net.com will continue to grow and maintain it's presence by offering the top-notch customer service, a consistently updated library of insurance articles of interest and by connecting users with top agents who can offer the most personalized plans at the lowest possible prices.

Source:http://www.prweb.com/release

Life Insurance Patent Issued for Future System Advisors, LLC

BATON ROUGE, La.,Future System Advisors, LLC (FSA) is pleased to announce that on November 18, 2008 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent based on the FutureSystem(TM) Life Model (FSLM). The patent had been pending since 1999.

The FSLM is an entirely new form of life insurance that solves many of the problems caused by traditional product chassis, such as U.L. and V.U.L. RGA Financial Group, an affiliate of Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) licensed the intellectual property of the FutureSystem(TM) actuarial model, built a pricing prototype based on the model, and is offering to insurance companies a turn-key service to develop for them a line of FutureSystem(TM) Life products.

RGA has already built two FSLM products that are on the market through a major life insurance company and is currently in discussions with other companies. FSA also has a patent application pending for the FutureSystem(TM) Planning Process, which helps to position the use of FutureSystem(TM) Life Model policies and is available to be licensed by advisors. To learn more, visit the FSA website at www.futuresystem.com.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story

QBE Insurance Raises A$2 Billion in Share Sale

QBE Insurance Group Ltd., Australia’s biggest property and casualty insurer, raised A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) to shore up its capital and pay for acquisitions abroad.

QBE, also the biggest manager in the Lloyds of London market, sold 97.6 million new shares at A$20.50 apiece, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange today.

The company said yesterday it would spend $695 million on acquisitions, including U.S. insurer ZC Sterling Corp., to stem slowing profit growth. QBE will also buy two U.S. underwriting agencies and one in Europe.

Chief Executive Officer Frank O’Halloran has made 12 acquisitions this year after a failed A$8.7 billion bid for Insurance Australia Group Ltd.

QBE shares fell 2.2 percent to A$22.50 at the close in Sydney. They were at A$23 yesterday before being halted from trading ahead of the capital raising. QBE has dropped 33 percent this year, compared with a 40 percent slump in the six-company S&P/ASX 200 Insurance Index.

In addition to the A$2 billion share sale to institutions, QBE also plans to swap new five-year senior notes for Tier 1 perpetual securities with a face value of A$1.25 billion at a discount, it said.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news

Life insurance benefits

With the stock market in turmoil, Frank Woodruff, CEO of Sapient Financial Group, finds himself fielding calls from clients worried about their investments daily. Those who have whole life insurance in their mix are relieved that they purchased the high-priced product.

Now clients that shunned whole life years ago because other products offered better returns are looking at the product as stable and predictable — although costs haven’t come down.

“Whole life insurance is an incredibly solid investment,” says Woodruff. “But, back in the ’90s, when the tech stocks were going through the roof, whole life was the whipping boy, because it wasn’t providing as high of a return on investment as some of the riskier investments. Now, whole life is the ‘golden nugget,’” he adds.

Whole life is an insurance policy designed to be a cash reserve that builds up against the death benefit. Policy owners can even borrow against the cash value to help with temporary needs — such as college expenses. The policy’s cash value increases regardless of the performance of the insurance company. The policy also credits interest to the cash value of the account — sometimes resulting in dividends paid to the policy owner. Whole life insurance policies are tax-deferred, and upon maturity of the whole-life policy contract (usually at age 95 or 100), the cash value equals the death benefit.


Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories

AIG Injects NT$45.11 Billion Capital Into Taiwan Life Insurance Unit

TAIPEI -(Dow Jones)- U.S. insurance company American International Group Inc. (AIG) has injected NT$45.11 billion (US$1.36 billion) in fresh capital into its 95%-owned Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. as planned, the Taiwanese life insurer said late Friday.

The capital injection by AIG, in proportion to its ownership in the Taiwan unit, is part of Nan Shan's NT$47.22 billion fund raising approved by its board in October, Taipei-based Nan Shan said in an emailed statement.

Nan Shan is Taiwan's second largest life insurer by gross premiums, after Cathay Life Insurance Co.

-By Perris Lee Choon Siong, Dow Jones Newswires; +8862-2502-2557; perris.lee@ dowjones.com

Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/