Tontine insurance

[Sarah]

Insurance in which the benefits of the insurance aredistributed upon the tontine principle. Under the old, or fulltontine, plan, all benefits were forfeited on lapsed policies, on thepolicies of those who died within the tontine period only the face ofthe policy was paid without any share of the surplus, and thesurvivor at the end of the tontine period received the entiresurplus. This plan of tontine insurance has been replaced in theUnited States by the semitontine plan, in which the surplus isdivided among the holders of policies in force at the termination ofthe tontine period, but the reverse for the paid-up value is paid onlapsed policies, and on the policies of those that have died the faceis paid. Other modified forms are called free tontine, deferreddividend, etc., according to the nature of the tontine arrangement.