Legal Definitions - cash surrender value

Definition: Cash surrender value is the amount of money that an insurance policyholder receives when they surrender their policy back to the insurer. This value is calculated by subtracting the cost of insuring the policyholder from the excess level of premiums that have been paid by the policyholder. There may also be a surrender charge deducted from the cash surrender value.

Let's say that John has been paying premiums on his life insurance policy for 10 years. He decides that he no longer needs the policy and wants to surrender it to the insurer. The cash surrender value of his policy is $10,000. This means that John will receive $10,000 from the insurer in exchange for surrendering his policy.

This example illustrates how the cash surrender value is the amount of money that a policyholder receives when they surrender their policy. In this case, John is giving up his life insurance policy and receiving $10,000 in return.