New Hampshire Life Study Guide

New Hampshire rewrote its life policy statute in 2022, and the rewrite left the chapter shorter than almost any other state’s. That brevity is the exam’s whole trick: the things RSA 408:13 leaves out have not disappeared, they have moved into Department rules. Study the statute alone and you will reach a confident wrong answer about the single most-tested provision in this part.

The six paragraphs of RSA 408:13 — learn what is actually there

New Hampshire’s general policy requirements for life insurance run to six paragraphs and no more: premium payment, grace period, entire contract, incontestability, misstatement, and suicide. Incontestability is 2 years during the insured’s lifetime — with the wrinkle that a post-issue increase in the death benefit carries its own fresh 2 years from the date the increase was issued. The suicide provision is framed as a ceiling, not a mandate: New Hampshire does not require a suicide clause, it says that if a policy has one, it may not apply after the second anniversary.

Two things are conspicuously absent. There is no reinstatement provision in the life standard provisions at all — health has one at RSA 415:6, I(4), life does not. And there is no free look anywhere in RSA chapter 408.

The grace period — New Hampshire gives you the rule but not the number

RSA 408:13, II requires a grace period for every premium except the first, during which the death benefit continues in force, and the insurer may charge the pro-rata premium for those days. Then it does something unusual: “The commissioner may adopt rules to establish the length of the grace period.” New Hampshire delegates the length rather than fixing it in statute.

The free look — 10 days, and it is not where you would look for it

New Hampshire does mandate a free look on individual life insurance and annuity contracts. It is 10 days, and it lives in the Department’s policy-form rules at Ins 401.05(f), which requires this language in a conspicuous place on the face page: “This policy may, at any time within 10 days after its receipt by the policyholder, be returned by delivering it or mailing it to the company or to the agent through whom it was purchased.” On return the policy is void from the beginning and the premium is refunded.

Now note the asymmetry, because this is where points are won and lost. Individual life and annuity: 10 days. Individual accident and health: 30 days (Ins 401.06(b)(10)). A replacement transaction: 30 days for an unconditional full refund (Ins 302.06(a)(4)). Long-term care and Medicare supplement: 30 days each. Life is the outlier at ten.

Misstatement — New Hampshire says age or gender

Most states adjust the death benefit for a misstatement of age. RSA 408:13, V reaches age or gender, and prescribes a mortality-charge formula: the benefit becomes “that which would be purchased by the most recent mortality charge at the correct age or gender.” An answer that stops at “adjusted to what the premium would have purchased at the correct age” is half of New Hampshire’s rule.

Death claims — the 30-day notice and the 10% penalty

RSA 408:11 bars an insurer from withholding payment “for a period longer than reasonably necessary to transmit such payment,” and requires beneficiaries to be notified within 30 days of the insured’s death if the claim has not been paid. Interest accrues at the policy’s deposit rate or the Two Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate — and at a penalty rate of 10% annually beginning 31 calendar days after the later of receipt of proof of death or determination of liability.

Nonforfeiture and life settlements

RSA chapter 409 is New Hampshire’s Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance. A paid-up nonforfeiture benefit is available on request made within 60 days of the premium default, and a cash surrender value on surrender within that same 60 days once premiums have been paid for 3 full years (5 for industrial).

The secondary market runs under the Life Settlements Act, RSA 408-D — note the name, not “viatical.” The owner may rescind by the earlier of 30 calendar days after execution or 15 calendar days after the proceeds have been sent (RSA 408-D:11, VI). The statute says sent, not received, and items are written around exactly that word.

Annuity recommendations — best interest since 2024

New Hampshire adopted the NAIC best-interest standard as rule Ins 305, effective February 16, 2024. A producer must act in the consumer’s best interest “without placing the producer’s or the insurer’s financial interest ahead of the consumer’s interest.” One thing New Hampshire did not adopt: the model’s producer-training section has no counterpart here, so there is no state-mandated annuity training hour count. Your carrier will likely require one. The state does not.