Center Offers Classes on Life Settlements.

The Coventry Center for Financial Professionals, a center formed in January 2000 to provide education on life insurance valuation and life settlements, is offering seminars across the United States. The seminars offer continuing-education credits for insurance, legal and certified financial planning professionals.

"The market for life settlements has been growing rapidly over the past year, and professional advisers nationwide are incorporating life settlements into their practice," said the center's Constance M. Buerger. "The center's goal is to raise the level of professionalism in the life-settlement marketplace."

A life insurance valuation determines the fair-market value of a life policy, while a life settlement gives policyowners the ability to access this value by selling their existing policies and receive a cash amount in excess of cash-surrender value.

Based in Fort Washington, Pa., the center has offered courses on behalf of local and state insurance associations, estate-planning councils, financial-services professional associations, broker-dealers, brokerage operations and national producer marketing groups. It is approved to offer courses or is pending approval for continuing education in 44 states.

Life settlements are a relatively new phenomenon, so it is fertile ground for unscrupulous parties. A working group of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is currently working on a model act covering life settlements.