Products and processes for managing life instruments

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a method includes accessing a listing of a plurality of profiles of life insurance policies. A profile is selected from the listing, and the trading status of the profile can be viewed. A buy command or sell command is submitted to an exchange system to trade the life insurance policy that is associated with the selected profile.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . An article of manufacture comprising:
 a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to:
 receive a query for a settlement contract that is available for sale, in which the query is based on at least one field and the settlement contract comprises a sale of a policyholder's death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchange for money; 
 retrieve a first settlement contract that comprises information matching the at least one queried field; 
 compute a rating for the first settlement contract; 
 receive, during a pre-determined period of time, a plurality of bids for the first settlement contract, in which each of the plurality of bids comprises a bid price; 
 determine, that a first bidder has submitted a best bid price for the settlement contract; 
 notify the first bidder and the policyholder of an agreement to sell the first settlement contract at the best bid price; 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a trade processor, to cause the trade processor to execute instructions, stored on the computer-readable medium, to cause the trade processor to execute a procedure to execute and process a trade associate with the settlement contract; 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a clearing processor of a back office clearing center computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the back office clearing center computer, to cause the clearing processor to execute a procedure to perform a clearing on the executed trade; and 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to an evaluation entity computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the evaluation entity computer, to cause the evaluation entity computer to execute a procedure to perform to (1) obtain information of the policyholder, (2) perform an evaluation of the policyholder, (3) and send results of the evaluation back to the processor. 
   
     
     
         3 . The article of manufacture of  claim 2 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 communicate to a plurality of potential purchasers that the first settlement contract is available for purchase.   
     
     
         4 . The article of manufacture of  claim 2 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 provide the policyholder of the first settlement contract with an opportunity to rescind the agreement.   
     
     
         5 . The article of manufacture of  claim 4 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 receive a request to rescind the agreement; and   cancel the agreement.   
     
     
         6 . The article of manufacture of  claim 2 , in which the best bid price is higher than any other bid prices that were received during the pre-determined period of time. 
     
     
         7 . The article of manufacture of  claim 2 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 determine a life expectancy of the policyholder; and   determine a creditworthiness of an insurance company that is providing the life insurance policy.   
     
     
         8 . The article of manufacture of  claim 7 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 assign the rating to the received settlement contract based on at least the life expectancy of the policyholder and the creditworthiness of the insurance company, in which the rating determines at least in part a price of the received settlement contract.   
     
     
         9 . The article of manufacture of  claim 7 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to:
 perform a medical evaluation of the policyholder.   
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from the remote device, a query for a settlement contract that is available for sale, in which the query is based on at least one field and the settlement contract comprises a sale of a policyholder's death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchange for money;   retrieving, using the processor, a first settlement contract that comprises information matching the at least one queried field;   computing, using the processor, a rating of the settlement contract, in which the processor and the remote device are in communication over a network;   receiving at the processor, during a pre-determined period of time, a plurality of bids for the first settlement contract, in which each of the plurality of bids comprises a bid price;   determining, using the processor, that a first bidder has submitted a best bid price for the settlement contract;   notifying, using the processor, the first bidder and the policyholder of an agreement to sell the first settlement contract at the best bid price;   determining, using the processor, whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a trade processor, to cause the trade processor to execute instructions, stored on the computer-readable medium, to cause the trade processor to execute a procedure to execute and process a trade associate with the settlement contract;   determining, using the processor, whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a clearing processor of a back office clearing center computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the back office clearing center computer, to cause the clearing processor to execute a procedure to perform a clearing on the executed trade; and   determining, using the processor, whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to an evaluation entity computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the evaluation entity computer, to cause the evaluation entity computer to execute a procedure to (1) obtain information of the policyholder, (2) perform an evaluation of the policyholder, (3) and send results of the evaluation back to the processor.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising:
 communicating to a plurality of potential purchasers that the first settlement contract is available for purchase. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 providing the policyholder of the first settlement contract with an opportunity to rescind the agreement.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising:
 receiving a request to rescind the agreement; and 
 canceling the agreement. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , in which the best bid price is higher than any other bid prices that were received during the pre-determined period of time. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining a life expectancy of the policyholder; and   determining a creditworthiness of an insurance company that is providing the life insurance policy.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising:
 assigning, using the processor, the rating to the received settlement contract based on at least the life expectancy of the policyholder and the creditworthiness of the insurance company, in which the rating determines at least in part a price of the received settlement contract. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , in which the act of determining the life expectancy of the policyholder further comprises:
 performing a medical evaluation of the policyholder.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising:
 computing, using the processor based on the rating, an initial bid price for the settlement contract. 
 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus comprising:
 a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to:
 receive a query for a settlement contract that is available for sale, in which the query is based on at least one field and the settlement contract comprises a sale of a policyholder's death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchange for money; 
 retrieve a first settlement contract that comprises information matching the at least one queried field; 
 compute a rating for the first settlement contract; 
 receive, during a pre-determined period of time, a plurality of bids for the first settlement contract, in which each of the plurality of bids comprises a bid price; 
 determine, that a first bidder has submitted a best bid price for the settlement contract; 
 notify the first bidder and the policyholder of an agreement to sell the first settlement contract at the best bid price; 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a trade processor, to cause the trade processor to execute instructions, stored on the computer-readable medium, to cause the trade processor to execute a procedure to execute and process a trade associate with the settlement contract; 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to a clearing processor of a back office clearing center computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the back office clearing center computer, to cause the clearing processor to execute a procedure to perform a clearing on the executed trade; and 
 determine whether to generate and communicate electronic commands, directed to an evaluation entity computer, to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium of the evaluation entity computer, to cause the evaluation entity computer to execute a procedure to (1) obtain information of the policyholder, (2) perform an evaluation of the policyholder, (3) and send results of the evaluation back to the processor. 
   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to:
 communicate to a plurality of potential purchasers that the first settlement contract is available for purchase.   
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , in which the computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to:
 provide the policyholder of the first settlement contract with an opportunity to rescind the agreement