Dictionary of Insurance Terms -T-

-T-

• 
  Tax Basis: The cost from which your profits
  or losses are calculated for income tax purposes.
• 
  Taxable estate: The value upon which
  estate taxes are calculated by the federal government.
• 
  Tenants in common: A form of joint
  property ownership in which the owners may have unequal shares and which
  does not involve a right of survivorship.
• 
  “Testamentary trust”: A trust created
  through the will of its creator.
• 
  Third Party: The claimant under a liability
  policy. So called because the person making the claim is not one of the
  two parties, insured and insurer, to the insurance contract.
• 
  Third party claim: a demand made
  by a person against a policyholder of another company and any payment that
  will be made by that company.
• 
  Third-party over suit: a lawsuit
  where a third party tries to recover damages assessed against that party
  by bringing suit against the employer.
• 
  Threshold (No-Fault): The point, measured
  in money, time or other ways, beyond which tort liability can be established.
  Until that point is reached, reparations must be paid within the provisions
  of the no-fault plan, with no recourse to the courts.
• 
  Time Limit: The period of time during which
  a notice of claim or proof of loss must be filed.
• 
  Tornado: A whirling wind over land, accompanied
  by a funnel-shaped cloud. It is usually very violent and destructive in
  a narrow path, often for many miles.
• 
  Tort: A civil wrong, other than a breach of contract,
  for which a court of law will afford legal relief, i.e. harming another
  by an act of negligence in driving an auto.
• 
  Total Disability: An illness or injury
  which prevents an insured person from continuously performing every duty
  pertaining to his/her occupation or engaging in any other type of work.
  (This wording varies among insurance companies.)
• 
  Travel Accident Policy: A limited
  contract covering only accidents while an insured person is traveling,
  usually on a commercial carrier.
• 
  Treaty: An agreement between a reinsurer and
  a ceding insurer setting forth details of the reinsurance arrangement.
• 
  Trust: A legal instrument allowing one party
  to control property for the benefit of another.
• 
  Turnover Rate: The rate at which employees
  terminate covered service other than by death or retirement. Expected future
  turnover can be taken into account in translating contributions into benefits.
• 
  Twisting: The practice of inducing by misrepresentation,
  or inaccurate or incomplete comparison, a policyholder in one company to
  lapse, forfeit or surrender his insurance for the purpose of taking out
  a policy in another company.