Subchapter IV. Life Insurance
50 U.S.C. § 3973: What the SCRA Life Insurance Application Needs
Official heading: Application for insurance protection
In one line
Sets what the written application must contain: your signature (or your representative’s), the policy and insurer, and an acknowledgment that the policy is modified by this subchapter. The insurer must report the policy to the VA.
Text checked October 9, 2026
What § 3973 does to your money
The application is short, and each element matters. It must be in writing and signed by you, your legal representative or your beneficiary; it must identify the policy and the insurer; and it must acknowledge that your rights under the policy are subject to and modified by the Act’s life insurance subchapter.
That acknowledgment has teeth. Once you apply, you and the insurer are treated as having agreed to whatever policy changes the subchapter needs, and under § 3975 that means no cash value, loan value or dividend payout without the VA’s approval while the policy is protected. The insurer must send the VA a report on the policy, and the VA may ask you and the insurer for more information before it decides.
So the trade is plain: the policy cannot lapse for unpaid premiums while protected, but you cannot borrow against it or cash it out during that time. If you were counting on the policy’s cash value to carry you through a deployment, this is the wrong tool. Keep copies of everything you send; the insurer receives the original and the VA a copy, and you will want both if the policy’s status is ever disputed.
The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 3973
From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.
(a) Application procedure
An application for protection under this subchapter shall:
(1) be in writing and signed by the insured, the insured's legal representative, or the insured's beneficiary, as the case may be;
(2) identify the policy and the insurer; and
(3) include an acknowledgement that the insured's rights under the policy are subject to and modified by the provisions of this subchapter.
(b) Additional requirements
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may require additional information from the applicant, the insured and the insurer to determine if the policy is entitled to protection under this subchapter.
(c) Notice to the Secretary by the insurer
Upon receipt of the application of the insured, the insurer shall furnish a report concerning the policy to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as required by regulations prescribed by the Secretary.
(d) Policy modification
Upon application for protection under this subchapter, the insured and the insurer shall have constructively agreed to any policy modification necessary to give this title full force and effect.
Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title IV, §403, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2852.)
Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.
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