SunUniversalLife II

Universal appeal.

Rediscover SunUniversalLife II, the solution as unique as the Client in front of you.

SunUniversalLife II is one of the most feature-rich UL solutions available to Canadians. It provides clients with flexible permanent life insurance coverage to help meet their long-term personal, estate and business goals.

Target Client Profiles: May be ideal for clients ages 30-70, looking to:

  • create tax-preferred savings opportunities
  • maximize personal or business assets both before and after death
  • build a solid foundation for their children or grandchildren
  • address their business protection or succession

Product overview

Coverage options
  • Single life
  • Joint first-to-die, two lives - includes - includes Survivor benefit and Automatic survivor benefit
  • Joint last-to-die COI to second death, two lives
  • Joint last-to-die COI to first death, two lives
Issue limits
  • Minimum: $100,000
  • Face amounts of under $100,000 available if converting or exercising the full amount.
  • Maximum: $25,000,000* - contact your Sales Director for quotes greater than the maximum.

*Premium rates for amounts above $15,000,000 are subject to reinsurance and underwriting reviews 

Death benefit options
  • Insurance amount plus policy fund
  • Level insurance amount
  • Level plus indexing
  • Level plus return of payments
  • Level plus adjusted cost basis (ACB)
Cost of insurance (COI) options and issue ages COI Single Joint
Level: 
Limited pay 10: 
Limited pay 15: 
Limited pay 20: 
YRT to age 85: 
YRT to age 70: 
18 - 85
0 - 85
0 - 85
0 - 80
0 - 70
0 - 55
18 - 85
18 - 85
18 - 85
18 - 80
18 - 70
18 - 55
For the Level plus death benefit options, the maximum single or joint issue age is age 70.
COI bands
  • $50,000 - $99,999 (conversion only)
  • $100,000 - $249,999
  • $250,000 - $499,999
  • $500,000 - $999,999
  • $1,000,000 - $4,999,999
  • $5,000,000 and up
Smoking status Non-smoker, Smoker, or Blended
Surrender charges

Based on a percentage of the Target payment. The surrender charge percentage will be pro-rated based on the number of whole months the policy has been in effect between policy anniversaries.

 

Policy year of basic insurance benefit Surrender charge percentage (start of policy year) Surrender charge percentage (end of policy year)
1 100 200
2 200 200
3 200 200
4 200 150
5 150 150
6 150 100
7 100 100
8 100 0
9 and later 0 0
Target payment for non-rated c0ases is equal to100% of the level COI amount for all COI options
 
Policy fee None
Guaranteed cash values Available with the limited pay COI options beginning as early as the 5th policy anniversary
Investment options

Guaranteed investment accounts

  • Daily interest account (DIA)
  • Guaranteed interest account (GIA)
  • 1,3, 5 and 10 year
  • Eighteen managed accounts including 7 that track the performance of select Sun Life Granite portfolios
  • Sun Life Diversified Account
Optional benefits
  • Accidental death benefit
  • Guaranteed insurability benefit
  • Total disability waiver benefit
  • Owner waiver benefit (death, disability or death and disability)
  • Child term benefit
  • Business value protection benefit
  • Term insurance benefit
  • T10, T10 with Renewal protection, T15, T20, T30
Special features
  • Access to the policy fund when disabled
  • Early death benefit
  • Living benefit

Term insurance benefit (TIB)

Issue ages: Base Life  Additional life

T10:

T10 with RPB:

T15:

T20:

T30:

18 - 75

18 - 65

18 - 70

18 - 65

18 - 55

0 - 75

0 - 65

0 - 70

0 - 65

0 - 55

  • Availability: Single life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • Expires on the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 85th birthday, or 85th birthday of the oldest insured
  • Minimum benefit amount: $50,000
  • Maximum benefit amount - Base life: $15,000,000 minus the basic insurance amount per insured
  • Maximum benefit amount - Additional life: $15,000,000 per insured
  • All or part of the TIB death benefit is convertible to permanent life insurance without additional medical evidence, up to the policy anniversary nearest the insured's 75th birthday
  • Available after issue, subject to underwriting requirements
  • Optional Renewal protection benefit (RBP)
    • Available with T10, allows the client to pay additional costs today in exchange for lower renewal costs, compared to T10 without RPB.
    • Cannot be cancelled or added after issue.

Accidental death benefit (ADB)

  • Issue ages: 0 - 65
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • Minimum benefit amount: $10,000
  • Maximum benefit amount: Lesser of two times the insurance amount, including Term insurance benefits, and $1,000,000 ($250,000 for ages 0-17)
  • Expires at the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 70th birthday
  • Costs are level and are payable until expiry of the benefit.
  • Can be added after issue at the policy anniversary only

Child term benefit (CTB)

  • Issue ages: 18 - 55
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • Child eligibility: 0-18 based on age nearest birthday
  • Covers any child named on the application (born, adopted and stepchildren) and automatically covers children born or legally adopted after the date of application. Stepchildren may be added after issue through an application
  • Minimum benefit amount: $10,000
  • Maximum benefit amount: $30,000 total across all CTB coverages with Sun Life
  • Costs are payable to the earlier of 20 years and the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 70th birthday
  • Benefit expires at the policy anniversary nearest the base insured person's 70th birthday 
  • Between the child's 18th and 25th birthdays, the owner will have the right to buy additional life insurance on the life of the child for up to 10 times the amount of the benefit
  • Can be added after issue at policy anniversary only

Total disability waiver benefit (TDB)

  • Issue ages:  0 - 55
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • Expires at the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 60th birthday
  • Benefit will waive up to $50,000 of annual premium/COI across all Sun Life policies
  • Costs will be waived as long as the insured is disabled
  • Cannot be added after issue

Owner waiver death benefit

  • Issue ages for the owner: 18 - 60
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • The owner must be different than the insured.
  • Expires at the policy anniversary nearest the owner's 70th birthday. For insured’s ages 0 -17, the benefit expires at the earlier of the anniversary nearest age 25 of the insured or the anniversary nearest age 70 of the owner.
  • Benefit will waive up to $50,000 of annual premium/COI across all Sun Life policies
  • Costs will be waived as long as costs are charged for the insurance amount and optional benefits that exist in the policy at the time of death.
  • Not available when the Business value protection benefit has been selected
  • Cannot be added after issue

Owner waiver disability benefit

  • Issue ages for the owner: 18 - 55
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • The owner must be different than the insured.
  • Expires at the policy anniversary nearest the owner's 60th birthday. For insured’s ages 0 -17, the benefit expires at the earlier of the anniversary nearest age 25 of the insured or the anniversary nearest age 60 of the owner.
  • Benefit will waive up to $50,000 of annual premium/COI across all Sun Life policies
  • Costs will be waived as long as the owner is disabled
  • Not available when the Business value protection benefit has been selected
  • Cannot be added after issue

Owner waiver death and disability benefit

  • Issue ages for the owner: 18 - 55
  • Availability: Single Life/Joint first-to-die/Joint last-to-die
  • This optional benefit combines the coverages provided by the Owner waiver death and Owner waiver disability benefits, at a discount when compared to their individual benefit premiums.

Guaranteed insurability benefit (GIB)

  • GIB allows policy owners to purchase additional life insurance for insured persons at their attained age without providing evidence of insurability.
  • Issue ages: 0 - 45
  • Availability: Single Life only
  • Minimum option amount:  $20,000
  • Maximum option amount:  Lesser of insurance amount (including Term insurance benefit and Enhanced insurance amount) and $300,000 across all Sun Life life insurance policies
  • Elections are available every 3 years and within 31 days of a special event (marriage, birth/legal adoption of a child)
  • A maximum of 8 elections up to a maximum face amount of $2,400,000 are available
  • Expires at the earlier of the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 55 birthday or once the maximum amount of elections have been made
  • Not available if the Business value protection benefit has been selected
  • Not available after issue or for substandard risks

Business value protection benefit (BVPB)

  • Allows business owners to purchase additional insurance as their business grows without providing medical evidence
  • Issue ages: 18 - 65
  • Availability: Single Life only
  • Minimum option amount: $250,000
  • Maximum option amount: $2,500,000 across all Sun Life policies
  • Cumulative maximum equal to the lesser of $10,000,000 or 4 times the option amount
  • Options can be exercised annually within 31 days of the policy anniversary for the first 10 years
  • Expires at the earlier of the 10th policy anniversary or once the maximum amount of elections have been made
  • Not available if the Owner waiver or Guaranteed insurability benefits have been selected
  • Not available after issue or for substandard risks

The first four transactions per year, that are initiated by the policy owner are free. After that, the following transactions are charged $50 and must be paid up-front:

  •  investment account mix change
  •  COI withdrawal order change
  •  change in COI or death benefit option
  •  policy loan or cash withdrawal
  •  increases or decreases to the amount of insurance
  •  adding or deleting an optional benefit
  •  change to non-smoker rates
  •  rating changes
  •  change in Early death benefit percentage

The following changes are excluded from the four free transactions, and fees are required to be paid up front:

  •  $25 charge for any returned PAC payments
  •  $50 to reissue a replacement contract
  •  $50 for accounting history for two years and over

We may charge a fee for policy transactions or policy changes that are not listed. The maximum fee charged at any time is $50 per transaction.

The minimum withdrawal amount is $250 and the maximum is the current policy cash surrender value (CSV) minus any guaranteed cash value (GCV) minus 12 times the previous month's total COI for the policy. Any withdrawal from the policy fund will reduce the death benefit by the amount of the withdrawal.

Cash loans

With SunUniversalLife II, loans against the policy fund are permitted after the first policy year. The minimum policy loan is $250. The maximum policy loan is determined using the following formula:

(75% X (A + B - C - D)) - E - (F X (1 + G)) where:
A = the policy fund value
B = any guaranteed cash value
C = any surrender charge
D = any MVAs
E = COI deductions for the insurance amount and optional benefits for the previous month X 12
F = any outstanding policy loans, including interest
G = the current loan interest rate, divided by 100
The death benefit paid is reduced by the amount of any outstanding policy loans, including interest.

The loan interest rate isn't guaranteed and is linked to the Royal Bank of Canada prime rate, plus 2%. The interest rate is set on the day of the policy loan. At each policy anniversary the interest rate is changed to the rate that would be charged for new policy loans on that day.

Automatic payment loans (APL)

APL is available for clients who have selected a limited pay COI coverage. If there isn't enough money in the policy fund to pay the cost of insurance when it's due, we'll process an automatic payment loan against any available guaranteed cash value. This loan is only available to pay the cost of insurance. The total amount of all policy loans plus accrued interest can't be more than the policy fund value plus any guaranteed cash value.

If the total amount of all policy loans plus accrued interest becomes greater than the policy fund value plus any guaranteed cash value, clients have 31 days to make any required payment or the policy will lapse.

The policy CSV is calculated as:

  • the policy fund value,
  •  minus surrender charges,
  •  minus any MVAs,
  •  minus policy loans including interest,
  •  plus any guaranteed cash value,
  •  plus any amount in the service account.

Insured persons, age nearest 0 - 16 are classified as juveniles and receive a juvenile rate.

For ages 0 - 16 where a limited pay COI option has been selected, the juvenile rate applies for the duration of the coverage. Clients can't switch to non-smoker rates.

For ages 0 - 16 where the COI option isn't limited pay, a change from a juvenile rate to a non-smoker rate can be requested. The policy owner must submit a non-smoker declaration, signed by the insured person to Sun Life any time between the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 17th and 19th birthdays. The change to non-smoker rates begins at the policy anniversary nearest the insured person's 18th birthday or the date the non-smoker declaration is approved - whichever is later.  If no declaration is received, the insured person is automatically classified as a smoker and is charged smoker rates from the policy anniversary nearest their 18th birthday. If the declaration is received after the policy anniversary nearest the 19th birthday new evidence of insurability is required.

Some convertible term plans or benefits can be converted without evidence of insurability, to a SunUL II policy. If a term plan (with a conversion credit) is converted to a UL policy the credit will be transferred into the activity account. A permanent plan is not convertible to a SunUL II policy.

This benefit is offered on Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada life insurance products and is a non-contractual arrangement that we may approve at our discretion on a case-by-case basis. If an insured person is diagnosed with a terminal illness, an application can be made by the policy owner for a lump sum advance of 50% of the insurance amount, to a maximum of $100,000. The lump sum, plus interest, is deducted from the death benefit when paid. This benefit follows the rules of the living benefit program in effect when the policy owner applies to receive the benefit.

We will now allow Clients to split their Joint life policies into new single life policies at attained age and current rates without providing new evidence of insurability. The following criteria must be met:

  • The request to split a Joint life plan must be received within 90 days of obtaining a signed legal separation, divorce or dissolution of business partnership.
  • Splitting of Joint plans will be available for currently sold Joint First-to-Die or Joint Last-to-Die permanent life insurance products, and for currently sold Joint First-to-Die Term life insurance products. Splitting of Joint plans will not be allowed on plans sold prior to January 1, 2017.
  • The new single life plans will be the same type of policy as the original Joint plan. If the same type of policy is not available, Sun Life will determine what type of plans can be issued.
  • The face amount of the new single life plans can be no greater than 50% of the original Joint life base plan or a proportional split if more than 2 lives were insured on the Joint plan.
  • Premiums for the new plan(s) must be received at the time of application.
  • Upon splitting of the Joint plan, a full taxable disposition will occur. Any cash surrender value or fund value, less any outstanding loans or premiums, will be paid to the policy owner(s). This may result in tax implications, including increasing taxable income.

Client information