§ 316 — Policies of insurance; policies not to lapse or be forfeited

§ 316. Policies of insurance; policies not to lapse or be forfeited.\n1. No policy which insures the life of a member of a reserve component\nof the armed forces of the United States, including the National Guard,\nwho is called to active duty, or no policy which has been brought within\nthe benefits of the federal "soldiers' and sailors' civil relief act"\nshall lapse or be forfeited for the nonpayment of premium during the\nperiod of such service, or during two years after the expiration of such\nperiod; provided that any such policy has not lapsed for the nonpayment\nof premium before the commencement of the period of military service of\nthe insured, provided that in no case shall this prohibition extend for\nmore than one year after this article ceases to be in force.\n 2. For the purposes of this section, the term "policy" shall include\nany contract of life insurance as defined in paragraph one of subsection\n(a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of the insurance law.\nIt shall also include any benefit in the nature of life insurance\narising out of membership in any fraternal benefit society as defined in\nsubsection (a) of section four thousand five hundred one of the\ninsurance law. In no case, however, shall the term "policy" include\ninsurance exceeding a total face value of one hundred thousand dollars\nwhether in one or more companies, but shall not include a policy insured\nunder Servicemen's Group Life Insurance. The term "premium" shall\ninclude membership dues or assessments in such society, and the date of\nissuance of policy as herein limited shall refer to the date of\nadmission to membership in such association; the term "insured" shall\ninclude any person who is the holder of a policy as defined in this\nsection; the term "insurer" shall include any corporation, partnership,\nor other form of association which secures or provides insurance under\nany policy as defined herein.\n 3. No individual accident and health insurance policy, defined in\nparagraph three of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred\nthirteen of the insurance law, which policy insures a member of the\norganized militia of the state, and has not lapsed for the non-payment\nof premiums before the commencement of a period of active duty in the\nmilitary service of the state of New York by such member, pursuant to an\norder of the governor issued under the authority of section six or seven\nof this chapter, shall lapse or be forfeited for the non-payment of\npremiums during a period of sixty days from the date that said member\nbegins such active duty provided the insurer is furnished with written\nnotice of said duty within thirty days after the commencement thereof.\nAn insurer shall have the right to deduct the amount of due and unpaid\npremiums from any benefit that may become payable as a result of this\nsubdivision.\n