Life insurance cooperative

• US 8,290,844 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2010
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Michael Richard Hoffman
• Original Assignee: Michael Richard Hoffman
• Inventors: Hoffman, Michael Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B.
• Application Number:
  US12/824,847
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268554A1
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/35, 705/36
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A method and computing system that receives a payment for each participant in a group of participants, and associates the payments with a time period to create a fund for the time period. The method identifies deceased participants in the group of participants who died during the time period, calculates a portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant; and disburses the portion of the fund to each deceased participant. When the participant is one of the deceased participants, the portion of the fund to disburse to the participant is a death benefit for the participant.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a payment for each participant in a group of participants;

associating the payments with a time period;

creating a fund for the time period, where the fund is a designated portion of a sum of the payments;

identifying deceased participants in the group of participants who died during the time period;

calculating, on a computer, a portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant; and

disbursing the fund to the deceased participants, where the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is a share of the fund.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

qualifying each participant to receive a death benefit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the qualifying of each participant is based on the receiving of the payment for each participant.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the qualifying of each participant further comprises:

receiving registration information for each participant, the registration information including personal information, contact information, uninsurable trait information, and previous insurance coverage information;

storing the registration information for each participant in the computer; and

analyzing the registration information for each participant to determine whether each participant qualifies to receive the death benefit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the uninsurable trait information includes a health condition or a lifestyle risk, the health condition including cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, heart disease, a diagnosis of cancer in remission, and a terminal illness, and the lifestyle risk including obesity, smoking, a high risk occupation including law enforcement, or military, and a high-risk activity including rock climbing, mountaineering, or base jumping.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the deceased participants further comprises:

receiving a notification of death for each deceased participant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating of the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is based on the payment associated with the time period for the deceased participant.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating of the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is based on an average payment for the deceased participant, computed over a number of time periods.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein when the participant is one of the deceased participants, the portion of the fund to disburse to the participant is a death benefit for the participant.

10. A computing system, comprising:

a memory device resident in the computing system; and

a processor disposed in communication with the memory device, the processor configured to;

receive a payment for each participant in a group of participants;

associate the payments with a time period;

create a fund for the time period, where the fund is a designated portion of a sum of the payments;

identify deceased participants in the group of participants who died during the time period;

calculate, on a computer, a portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant; and

disburse the fund to the deceased participants, where the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is a share of the fund.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

qualify each participant to receive a death benefit.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the qualifying of each participant is based on the receiving of the payment for each participant.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein to qualify each participant, the processor is further configured to:

receive registration information for each participant, the registration information including personal information, contact information, uninsurable trait information, and previous insurance coverage information;

store the registration information for each participant in the computer; and

analyze the registration information for each participant to determine whether each participant qualifies to receive the death benefit.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the uninsurable trait information includes a health condition or a lifestyle risk, the health condition including cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, heart disease, a diagnosis of cancer in remission, and a terminal illness, and the lifestyle risk including obesity, smoking, a high risk occupation including law enforcement, or military, and a high-risk activity including rock climbing, mountaineering, or base jumping.

15. The computing system of claim 10, wherein to identify the deceased participants, the processor is further configured to:

receive a notification of death for each deceased participant.

16. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the calculating of the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is based on the payment associated with the time period for the deceased participant.

17. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the calculating of the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is based on an average payment for the deceased participant, computed over a number of time periods.

18. The computing system of claim 10, wherein when the participant is one of the deceased participants, the portion of the fund to disburse to the participant is a death benefit for the participant.

19. A computer-readable medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computing device, perform steps of:

receiving a payment for each participant in a group of participants;

associating the payments with a time period;

creating a fund for the time period, where the fund is a designated portion of a sum of the payments;

identifying deceased participants in the group of participants who died during the time period;

calculating, on a computer, a portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant; and

disbursing the fund to the deceased participants, where the portion of the fund to disburse to each deceased participant is a share of the fund.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

qualifying each participant to receive a death benefit.