Vermont Statutes
Chapter 121 - Fraternal Benefit Societies
§ 4479. The contract

§ 4479. The contract
(a) Every society authorized to do business in this State shall issue to each benefit member a certificate specifying the amount of benefits provided under the certificate. The certificate, together with any attached riders or endorsements, the charter or articles of incorporation, the constitution and laws of the society, the application for membership, and declaration of insurability, if any, signed by the applicant, and all amendments to each thereof, shall constitute the agreement, as of the date of issuance, between the society and the member, and the certificate shall so state. A copy of the application for membership and of the declaration of insurability, if any, shall be endorsed upon or attached to the certificate.
(b) All statements purporting to be made by the member shall be representations and not warranties. Any waiver of this provision shall be void.
(c) Any changes, additions, or amendments to the charter or articles of incorporation, constitution, or laws duly made or enacted subsequent to the issuance of the certificate, shall bind the member and the beneficiaries and shall control the agreement in all respects the same as though the changes, additions, or amendments had been made before and were in force at the time of the application for membership, except that no change, addition, or amendment shall destroy or diminish benefits which the society contracted to give the member as of the date of issuance.
(d) Copies of any of the documents mentioned in this section, certified by the secretary or corresponding officer of the society, shall be received in evidence of the terms and conditions thereof.
(e) A society shall provide in its constitution or laws that if its reserves as to all or any class of certificates become impaired its board of directors or corresponding body may require that there shall be paid by the member to the society the amount of the member’s equitable proportion of the deficiency as ascertained by its board, and that if the payment be not made it shall stand as an indebtedness against the certificate and draw interest not to exceed five percent a year compounded annually. (Added 1959, No. 197, § 19, eff. Nov. 22, 1959; amended 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 193, eff. July 1, 2022.)

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