Michigan Compiled Laws 218-1956-81a Chapter 81a Fraternal Benefit Societies (500.8161...500.8199a)

• Section 500.8161 Definitions.
  As used in this chapter: (a) “Benefit contract” means the agreement for provision of benefits authorized by section 8179, as that agreement is described...
• Section 500.8162 Society Governed By Chapter; Exemption.
  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a society shall be governed by this chapter and shall be exempt from all other provisions of...
• Section 500.8163 Society As Charitable And Benevolent Institution; Tax Exemption.
  Each society organized or licensed under this chapter is hereby declared to be a charitable and benevolent institution, and all of the society's funds...
• Section 500.8164 Definition Of Fraternal Benefit Society.
  An incorporated society, order, or supreme lodge, without capital stock, including 1 exempted under the provisions of section 8199(1)(b) whether incorporated or not, conducted...
• Section 500.8165 Society Operating On Lodge System; Requirements; Lodges For Children.
  (1) A society is operating on the lodge system if it has a supreme governing body and subordinate lodges into which members are elected,...
• Section 500.8166 Representative Form Of Government; Requirements; Postponement Of Society Meetings.
  (1) A society has a representative form of government if: (a) It has a supreme governing body constituted in 1 of the following ways:...
• Section 500.8167 Society Operating For Benefit Of Members And Their Beneficiaries; Requirements; Subsidiary Corporations Or Affiliated Organizations; Laws And Rules; Additional Powers.
  (1) A society shall operate for the benefit of members and their beneficiaries by doing both of the following: (a) Providing benefits as specified...
• Section 500.8168 Specification Of Eligibility Standards, Admission Process, And Rights And Privileges; Social Members; Rights Personal And Not Assignable.
  (1) A society shall specify all of the following in its laws or rules: (a) Eligibility standards for each and every class of membership....
• Section 500.8169 Principal Office Of Domestic Society; Meetings Of Supreme Governing Body; Validity Of Business Transacted; Minutes; Official Publication; Report, Notice, Or Statement; Mailing Or Publication Of Synopsis Of Annual Statement; Grievance Or Complaint Procedures.
  (1) The principal office of a domestic society shall be located in this state. The meetings of its supreme governing body may be held...
• Section 500.8170 Personal Liability; Indemnification And Reimbursement; Purchase Of Insurance.
  (1) The officers and members of the supreme governing body or any subordinate body of a society shall not be personally liable for any...
• Section 500.8171 Waiver Of Society's Laws.
  A society's laws may provide that a subordinate body and its subordinate officers or members shall not have the power or authority to waive...
• Section 500.8172 Formation Of Domestic Fraternal Society; Requirements; Filing Documents; Bond; Certifying, Retaining, And Filing Articles Of Incorporation; Preliminary Certificate Of Authority; Solicitation Of Members; Collection Of Premium; Receipt; Liability; Issuance Of Certificate; Paying Or Allowing Benefit; Examination; Information; Evidence Of Compliance; Issuance Of Certificate Of Authority; Certificate As Evidence; Record.
  (1) To form a domestic fraternal society on or after April 1, 1990, 7 or more citizens of the United States, a majority of...
• Section 500.8173 Reincorporation Not Required.
  An incorporated society authorized to transact business in this state on April 1, 1990 is not required to reincorporate under this chapter. History: Add....
• Section 500.8174 Amendment To Laws.
  (1) A domestic society may amend its laws, as its laws provide, by action of its supreme governing body at any regular or special...
• Section 500.8175 Not For Profit Institution; Purposes; Reporting Real Or Personal Property.
  A society may create, maintain, and operate, or may establish organizations to operate, a not for profit institution to further the purposes permitted by...
• Section 500.8176 Reinsurance Agreement.
  (1) A domestic society, by a reinsurance agreement, may cede any individual risk in whole or in part to an insurer, other than another...
• Section 500.8177 Consolidation Or Merger; Compliance; Filings; Approval Of Contract; Issuance Of Certificate; Effective Date; Vesting Of Rights, Franchises, And Interest; Affidavit As Evidence Of Mailing Notice Or Documents; Payment Of Expenses And Compensation; Itemized Statement Of Expenses; Consolidation Or Merger Subject To Mcl 500.7604.
  (1) A domestic society may consolidate or merge with another society by complying with the provisions of this section and filing with the commissioner...
• Section 500.8178 Domestic Fraternal Benefit Society As Mutual Life Insurance Company.
  A domestic fraternal benefit society may be converted and licensed as a mutual life insurance company by compliance with all the requirements of chapter...
• Section 500.8179 Contractual Benefits; Specifying Persons Covered In Rules.
  (1) A society may provide in any form the following contractual benefits: (a) Death benefits. (b) Endowment benefits. (c) Annuity benefits. (d) Temporary or...
• Section 500.8180 Changing Beneficiary; Limiting Scope Of Beneficiary Designations; Vested Interest Of Revocable Beneficiary; Payment Of Funeral Benefits; Payment Of Benefit To Personal Representative Or Owner Of Certificate.
  (1) The owner of a benefit contract may change the beneficiary in accordance with the society's laws or rules unless the owner waives this...
• Section 500.8181 Attachment, Garnishment, Or Other Process.
  No money or other benefit, charity, relief, or aid to be paid, provided, or rendered by a society, shall be liable to attachment, garnishment,...
• Section 500.8182 Benefit Contracts.
  (1) Each society authorized to do business in this state shall issue to each owner of a benefit contract a certificate specifying the amount...
• Section 500.8183 Value Of Paid-up Nonforfeiture Benefit; Amount Of Cash Surrender Value, Loan, Or Other Option Granted.
  (1) For certificates issued before April 1, 1991, the value of every paid-up nonforfeiture benefit and the amount of any cash surrender value, loan,...
• Section 500.8184 Investments Generally.
  A society shall invest its funds only in those investments authorized by the laws of this state for the investment of assets of life...
• Section 500.8185 Assets; Special Fund; Accounts; Issuance Of Contracts On Variable Basis; Special Procedures; Special Voting And Other Rights.
  (1) All assets shall be held, invested, and disbursed for the use and benefit of the society. A society member or beneficiary shall not...
• Section 500.8186 Standards Of Valuation For Certificates; Excess Reserves.
  (1) Standards of valuation for certificates issued before April 1, 1991 shall be those provided by the laws applicable before April 1, 1990. (2)...
• Section 500.8187 Reports; Annual Statement; Valuation Of Certificates; Penalty.
  (1) Reports shall be filed in accordance with this section. (2) On or before March 1, each society transacting business in this state shall...
• Section 500.8188 Duration Of License Or Authorization To Transact Business; Copy Of License As Evidence.
  A society that is licensed or authorized to transact business in this state may continue the business and the authority of the society until...
• Section 500.8189 Examination Of Society.
  (1) The commissioner, or any person he or she may appoint, may examine any domestic, foreign, or alien society transacting or applying for admission...
• Section 500.8190 Foreign Or Alien Society; License Required; Compliance; Conditions.
  A foreign or alien society shall not transact business in this state without a license issued by the commissioner. A society desiring admission to...
• Section 500.8191 Domestic Society; Deficiencies; Notice; Request For Correction; Noncompliance; Action To Enjoin Or Action In Quo Warranto; Hearing; Order; Findings; Liquidation; Recognition Of Action; Receiver; Voluntary Determination To Discontinue Business.
  (1) If the commissioner upon investigation finds that a domestic society has exceeded its powers, has failed to comply with any provision of this...
• Section 500.8192 Foreign Or Alien Society; Deficiencies; Notice; Request For Correction; Noncompliance; Suspension, Revocation, Or Refusal Of License; Contracts.
  (1) If the commissioner upon investigation finds that a foreign or alien society transacting or applying to transact business in this state has exceeded...
• Section 500.8193 Application Or Petition For Injunction; Recognition.
  An application or petition for injunction against any domestic, foreign, or alien society, or lodge of such a society, shall not be recognized in...
• Section 500.8194 Agent Of Society; License Required; Exceptions.
  An agent of a society shall be licensed in accordance with the provisions of chapter 12 regulating the licensing, revocation, suspension, or termination of...
• Section 500.8195 Society Subject To Chapter 20.
  Each society authorized to do business in this state shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 20 relating to unfair trade practices except...
• Section 500.8196 Service Of Process.
  (1) Each society authorized to do business in this state shall appoint in writing the commissioner and each successor in office to be its...
• Section 500.8197 False Or Fraudulent Statement Or Representation As Misdemeanor Or Perjury; Violation Of Mcl 500.8177 As Felony; Soliciting Or Procuring Membership In Unlicensed Society As Misdemeanor; Violation Of Or Noncompliance With Chapter; Penalties.
  (1) A person, officer, member, or examining physician of any society authorized to do business under this chapter, who knowingly or willfully makes a...
• Section 500.8198 Decisions And Findings Of Commissioner; Judicial Review.
  All decisions and findings of the commissioner made under the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to review by proper proceedings in a...
• Section 500.8199 Exemptions.
  (1) This chapter shall not be construed to affect or apply to any of the following described organizations which were in existence and issuing...
• Section 500.8199a Additional Chapters And Provisions Applicable To Fraternal Benefit Society.
  A fraternal benefit society transacting business in this state and not exempt from the provisions of this chapter under section 8199 is also subject...

Last modified: October 10, 2016