§432:1-104  Definitions.  For the purposes of this article:

     "Commissioner" means the insurance commissioner of the State.

     "Mutual benefit society" means any corporation, unincorporated association, society, or entity:

     (1)  Organized and carried on for the primary benefit of its members and their beneficiaries and not for profit, and:

          (A)  Making provision for the payment of benefits in case of sickness, disability, or death of its members, or disability, or death of its members' spouses or reciprocal beneficiaries or children; or

          (B)  Making provision for the payment of any other benefits to or for its members,

          whether or not the amount of the benefits is fixed or rests in the discretion of the society, its officers, or any other person or persons; and the fund from which the payment of the benefits shall be defrayed is derived from assessments or dues collected from its members, and the payment of death benefits is made to the families, including reciprocal beneficiaries, heirs, blood relatives, or persons named by its members as their beneficiaries; or

     (2)  Organized and carried on for any purpose that:

          (A)  Regularly requires money to be paid to it by its members, whether the money be in the form of dues, subscriptions, receipts, contributions, assessments, or otherwise; and

          (B)  Provides for the payment of any benefit or benefits or the payment of any money or the delivery of anything of value to its members or their relatives, including reciprocal beneficiaries, or to any person or persons named by its members as their beneficiaries, or to any class of persons that includes or may include its members,

          whether or not the amount or value of the benefit, benefits, money, or thing of value is fixed, or rests in the discretion of the society, its officers, or any other person or persons; or

     (3)  Organized and carried on for any purpose whose requirements and provisions, although not identical with, are determined by the commissioner to be substantially similar to those enumerated in paragraphs (1) and (2).

     Participating in a legal service plan subject to chapter 488 shall not in itself make a corporation, unincorporated association, society, or entity a mutual benefit society and subject to this article. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2; am L 1993, c 350, §18; am L 1997, c 383, §60; am L 2012, c 34, §23; am L 2018, c 18, §28]

Attorney General Opinions

  Effect of amendment to section [by L 1997, c 383] was to allow, but not require, a mutual benefit society to make provision for payment of benefits to reciprocal beneficiaries.  Att. Gen. Op. 97-5.