How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- A life settlement sells your life insurance policy to a third party for more than its cash surrender value and far less than its death benefit. Common reported payouts run about 10 to 25 percent of face value, against a surrender value that is often close to zero on term policies.
- Use a licensed broker or collect several offers yourself. FINRA's guidance is blunt because the evidence is: the spread between the lowest and highest bid for the same policy is often 30 to 60 percent, so the first offer is rarely the best one.
- This is never a fast process. Expect medical underwriting, records requests and roughly 60 to 90 days from inquiry to money, closed through escrow, with a right to cancel in many states for a short window after.
- Proceeds can be taxable in layers, your premiums back tax free, gains above that partly as income and partly as capital gains, with viatical settlements for the terminally ill treated differently. This guide is information, not financial or tax advice; take both before you sign.
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The best life settlement companies
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Coventry is the market's anchor tenant: get its number early, because every other offer will be measured against it, and its retained benefit structures are genuinely worth modelling for families who still need some cover.
Do not accept it before the auction or the rival calls are done. The 30 to 60 percent bid spread documented in industry analysis is the price of saying yes to the first serious voice on the phone.
What we like- Coventry effectively created the modern life settlement market and remains its largest provider, buying policies directly at scale, with a consumer arm, Coventry Direct, built for sellers: online qualification, policy specialists, and structures including a Retained Death Benefit, where you stop paying premiums and keep part of the benefit for your family. Its educational material is unusually candid, stating plainly that many sellers receive 10 to 25 percent of face value and listing the tax layers. Scale brings process discipline and licensing depth across states.
Watch out for- It is one buyer. Its offer, however fair, has no internal competition, and Coventry's own materials, to their credit, tell you to understand net proceeds after any fees. Its size means a standardised process that flexes less on unusual policies. As a provider it profits from buying well, which is the polite way of restating why you should collect rival bids.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Abacus suits the seller who wants a direct, documented process with structural options, and its calculator plus published criteria make it the easiest place to establish whether your policy is even in the market.
Run its estimate, then treat it as the floor of a conversation, not the conclusion. The company's own materials advise reviewing offers with an adviser, which is correct and worth doing literally.
What we like- Abacus Life is a publicly traded provider that publishes more numbers than most: it describes traditional settlements paying typically between 10 and 80 percent of face value depending on the case, states a typical timeline of 60 to 90 days, and offers structures beyond the clean sale, retained death benefit and hybrid options that keep beneficiaries partly in place while ending premiums. It buys policies from 50,000 dollars face value in its published criteria, lower than the usual 100,000, and offers an online calculator for a first estimate. Reported analysis has put its average payout at about 22.5 percent of face value.
Watch out for- The wide 10 to 80 percent range is marketing true and practically useless
- Your number depends on age, health and premium load, and only underwriting answers it. It is a direct provider, one bid, like Coventry. It is licensed in most but not all states, with a few named exceptions. Public company polish does not remove the standard warning: get competing offers.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Welcome Funds is the representative model at its most established: one call, many bidders, a fiduciary style pitch you should verify against the licence and the commission disclosure.
Ask two questions in writing: how many buyers will see the policy, and what is the total commission as a percentage of the winning bid.
What we like- Welcome Funds is a licensed life settlement broker, in the market since 2000, whose whole model is the auction FINRA recommends: it packages your policy, takes it to a pool of institutional buyers, and lets them bid against each other, taking its commission from the transaction rather than charging you a fee to look. Its materials publish case results showing winning bids well above first offers, which is the broker argument in numbers. For a seller who will not personally run a multi buyer process, this is the done for you version.
Watch out for- The commission comes out of your settlement economics, disclosed in the paperwork you must actually read. An auction takes as long as underwriting takes
- The 60 to 90 day shape still applies. Broker quality is the whole product, so verify its licence in your state, since life settlement brokers are state regulated and rules differ. Its buyers are the same providers you could approach directly, organised better.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Magna belongs on the call list precisely because auction depth is built one provider at a time. A policy shopped to Coventry, Abacus and Magna, directly or through a broker, has met the market's centre.
If you go direct to several providers, keep a simple bid sheet: date, offer, structure, expiry. That discipline is how the spread ends up in your pocket.
What we like- Magna, an Austin based provider connected to an institutional asset manager in the longevity space, buys policies for investor portfolios and works both directly and through advisers and brokers. Its institutional backing matters in a market where the buyer's ability to keep paying premiums for decades is part of what you are selling into. It handles the standard policy types and publishes an education layer on eligibility and process.
Watch out for- Less consumer facing polish and published pricing colour than Coventry or Abacus
- You will learn your number through its underwriting, not a calculator. One bid, again. Its brand is quieter, which cuts both ways: fewer advertisements, less public review material to diligence against.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Lighthouse is a good second or third call for the seller who wants the reasoning shown: how the underwriting sees the case, and what would change the number.
Ask it, and every provider, what single change would raise the offer. Sometimes the answer is worth real money and costs only patience.
What we like- Lighthouse Life is a provider whose public materials lean educational: clear explanations of how offers are built from life expectancy underwriting and premium costs, eligibility guidance, and process transparency aimed at sellers and their advisers. It works with financial professionals as a channel, which suits sellers arriving via an adviser rather than an advertisement. Its content acknowledges the trade offs, beneficiaries, taxes, alternatives like policy loans and accelerated benefits, more openly than sales led rivals.
Watch out for- A smaller public footprint than the leaders means fewer published payout statistics to benchmark against. One bid, as with every provider here. Adviser channel focus can make the purely direct consumer journey slower to start. Licensing varies by state like everyone's.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Habersham suits the complicated case and the cautious seller: a provider old enough to have seen every policy structure the industry has sold since the 1980s.
What we like- Habersham Funding, a provider established in 2001 whose founder's settlement experience reaches back to the industry's earliest years, positions itself as teacher and advocate: it evaluates whether selling is in the client's interest at all before pricing the policy, an unusual and welcome posture in a commission driven market. It serves most states. For complex or older cases, survivorship policies, unusual health histories, its underwriting mileage is the offer.
Watch out for- It excludes a few states, listed on its materials as Alaska, Florida and West Virginia, so geography decides for some readers. Its consumer marketing is minimal, which means diligence relies on direct conversation and references. One bid. Timelines follow the standard underwriting shape.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
PolicyAppraisal is the diligence tool in this list, listed because the most expensive mistake in settlements is not choosing the wrong buyer, it is selling in ignorance of the range.
For a trustee or executor it may be close to obligatory thinking: selling an estate asset for the first bid, without a valuation, is the kind of decision beneficiaries question later.
What we like- PolicyAppraisal.com sells the step before the sale: a professional appraisal of what your policy might fetch in the settlement market, so you negotiate with a number of your own. In a market defined by bid spreads, an independent valuation is an advantage, whether you then sell through a broker, directly, or not at all. It suits executors, trustees and families handling an estate policy they did not buy and do not understand.
Watch out for- An appraisal is an estimate, not an offer
- The market's bids remain the truth. The service's cost and scope need confirming on the site, and it adds a step to an already slow process. It does not replace underwriting, because buyers price from medical records, not from face value arithmetic. Fiduciaries should confirm the appraisal methodology suits their documentation duties.
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Asset Life completes the practical shortlist shape: two or three providers for direct bids, one broker to run the auction, and the comparison made on net proceeds, after every fee, on paper.
If you engage any broker, confirm in the agreement that you may reject all bids without penalty. The right to walk away is the seller's only real power, and it should survive the signature.
What we like- Asset Life Settlements is a licensed broker firm built around seller representation: shopping policies to a network of providers, managing the underwriting paperwork and negotiating bids upward, with principals who come from the insurance side of the table. It publishes guidance on the process and on common seller mistakes, notably accepting early offers. For sellers who want the auction run by a smaller, senior firm rather than a call centre, it is the boutique broker option in this guide.
Watch out for- Broker commission applies, disclosed in transaction documents you must read. Smaller scale means its buyer pool claims should be tested with the same two written questions suggested for Welcome Funds. State licensing varies. The timeline remains the market's timeline, however good the representation.
How we chose
We selected life settlement companies operating in the US market in 2026 across its real structures: the largest direct provider, a public provider with published payout ranges, two established licensed brokers, institutional and experience led providers, an education forward provider and an appraisal service. Payout figures, eligibility bands and timelines are from the companies' published materials and industry analysis as of October 2026, including FINRA's consumer guidance on obtaining multiple offers. No policy was submitted and no company was engaged for this guide, and nothing in it is financial, tax or legal advice.
How to sell a policy without leaving money behind
Get the surrender value in writing first. Your insurer will state what the policy pays if you simply surrender it; that number is the floor every settlement must beat clearly, after fees, to be worth the paperwork. For term policies the floor is usually zero, which is why settlements exist.
Run a competition, personally or by broker. Three bids minimum, compared on net proceeds and structure, including any retained death benefit option. The 30 to 60 percent spread between low and high bids is documented across industry analyses; assume your policy has that spread until proven otherwise.
Slow down at the end. Closings run through escrow, states grant rescission windows in many cases, and a legitimate buyer explains both without pressure. Urgency in this market is a sales tool, never a market fact; the policy you have held for twenty years will keep for another month of diligence.
Take the tax picture to a professional before accepting. The layers, basis back tax free, then ordinary income up to surrender value, then capital gains, with different treatment for the terminally or chronically ill, can move the real value of an offer by thousands of dollars, and the comparison between two bids can flip after tax.
Frequently asked questions
How much will I actually get for my policy?
Published guidance from major providers puts many settlements between 10 and 25 percent of face value, with strong cases above that range; Abacus reports an average around 22.5 percent in industry coverage. The drivers are the insured's age and health, the policy's face value and type, and the cost of future premiums the buyer must carry. Any figure quoted before medical underwriting is a guess wearing a suit, so treat calculators as eligibility checks, not offers.
Who qualifies for a life settlement?
The typical profile: insured aged 65 or older, or younger with a significant change in health; a policy of at least 100,000 dollars face value, though some buyers work from 50,000; whole life, universal life or convertible term. Viatical settlements are the subset for the terminally or chronically ill, available at younger ages and with different tax treatment. If you are outside the profile, ask anyway once, because buyers' appetites differ and change.
How long does a life settlement take?
Plan on 60 to 90 days. The stages are qualification, medical records and policy illustrations, underwriting to estimate life expectancy, offers, contracts and an escrow closing, followed in many states by a rescission window during which you can cancel. Anyone promising cash in days is describing a different product or skipping the parts that protect you. If money is needed urgently for care, tell every bidder at the start; timelines can sometimes be prioritised, never conjured.
What are the tax consequences?
Under current US rules as summarised by the providers themselves: proceeds up to your basis, the premiums you paid in, come back free of tax; proceeds above basis up to the policy's cash surrender value are taxed as ordinary income; the remainder is capital gain. For insureds meeting the IRS definitions of terminally or chronically ill, viatical proceeds can be entirely tax free. State treatment varies. This is a map, not advice: have a tax professional price your specific offer before you accept it.
What do I give up when I sell?
The death benefit: your beneficiaries receive nothing from the sold policy unless you choose a retained death benefit structure, which pays less cash now in exchange for keeping part of the benefit without further premiums. You also give up the policy itself permanently once the rescission window passes, and settlement proceeds can affect eligibility for means tested benefits like Medicaid. Those two sentences are why this decision deserves family and professional company, however good the offer looks.
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Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.
Coventry Direct
Abacus Life
Welcome Funds
Magna Life Settlements
Lighthouse Life
Habersham Funding
PolicyAppraisal.com
Asset Life Settlements