A group life certificate holder in Tennessee dies. Under the group required-provisions statute, up to how much of the death benefit may the insurer pay to a person equitably entitled to it, such as one who incurred funeral or last-illness expenses?

Why A is correct

T.C.A. § 56-7-2305(a)(3)(F) permits the insurer, absent other direction from the insured, to pay up to $500 of the group life death sum to a person equitably entitled because of funeral or last-illness expenses. The allowance is a payment convenience built into the group required-provisions rule of T.C.A. § 56-7-2305 that the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance enforces; it is not a limit on the benefit itself.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) $1,000 is the cap Tennessee law places on payments to relatives without a valid release in accident and health claims under T.C.A. § 56-26-108, not the group funeral allowance.
• C) $100,000 is a Tennessee Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association limit for life cash surrender values, unrelated to the payment allowance in T.C.A. § 56-7-2305.
• D) $300,000 is the guaranty association limit for life death benefits under T.C.A. § 56-12-204, not a group required-provisions amount.

Memory hook

Group grief gets $500: the equitable funeral allowance under the group statute.