equal to the insurance then in force or which was in force on the day before such insured's sixty-fifth birthday, whichever is the greater. (Added P.L. 92–193.)

§ 705. Renewal

All level premium term policies, except as otherwise provided in this section, shall cease and terminate at the expiration of the term period. At the expiration of any term period any five-year level premium term policy which has not been exchanged or converted to a permanent plan of insurance and which is not lapsed shall be renewed as level premium term insurance without application for a successive fiveyear period at the premium rate for the attained age without medical examination. However, renewal will be effected in cases where the policy is lapsed only if the insured makes application for reinstatement and renewal of his term policy within five years after the date of lapse, and reinstatement in such cases shall be under the terms and conditions prescribed by the Administrator. In any case in which the insured is shown by evidence satisfactory to the Administrator to be totally disabled at the expiration of the level premium term period of his insurance under conditions which would entitle him to continued insurance protection but for such expiration, his insurance, if subject to renewal under this section, shall be automatically renewed for an additional period of five years at the premium rate for the then attained age, unless the insured has elected insurance on some other available plan. (Amended P.L. 91-291, § 8.)

§ 706. Policy provisions

Provisions for cash, loan, paid-up, and extended values, dividends from gains and savings, refund of unearned premiums, and such other provisions as may be found to be reasonable and practicable may be provided for in the policy of insurance from time to time by regulations promulgated by the Administrator.

§ 707. Payment or use of dividends

(a) Until and unless the Veterans' Administration has received from the insured a request or directive in writing exercising any other dividend option allowable under his policy, any dividend accumulations and unpaid dividends shall be applied in payment of premiums becoming due on insurance subsequent to the date the dividend is payable after January 1, 1952. (Amended P.L. 92-188, § 2(1).)

(b) No claim by an insured for payment in cash of a special dividend declared prior to January 1, 1952, shall be processed by the Veterans' Administration unless such claim was received within six years after such dividend was declared. Whenever any claim for payment of a special dividend, the processing of which is barred by this subsection, is received in the Veterans' Administration, it shall be returned to the claimant, with a copy of this subsection, and such action shall be a complete response without further communication. (Added P.L. 91-291, § 9.)

(c) The Administrator, upon application in writing made by the insured for insurance under this subsection, and without proof of good health, is authorized to apply any dividend due and payable on national service life insurance after the date of such application to purchase paid up insurance. Also, the Administrator, upon application

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in writing made by the insured within six calendar months after the effective date of this subsection, and without proof of good health, is authorized to apply any national service life insurance dividend credits and deposits of such insured existing at the date of his application to purchase paid up insurance. Any dividends, dividend credits, or deposits on endowment policies may be used under this subsection only to purchase additional paid up endowment insurance which matures concurrently with the basic policy. Any dividends, dividend credits, or deposits on policies (other than endowment policies) may be used under this section only to purchase additional paid up whole life insurance. The paid up insurance granted under this subsection shall be in addition to any insurance otherwise authorized under this title, or under prior provisions of law. The paid up insurance granted under this subsection shall be issued on the same terms and conditions as are contained in the standard policies of national service life insurance except (1) the premium rates for such insurance and all cash and loan values thereon shall be based on such table of mortality and rate of interest per annum as may be prescribed by the Administrator; (2) the total disability income provision authorized under section 715 of this title may not be added to insurance issued under this section; and (3) the insurance shall include such other changes in terms and conditions as the Administrator determines to be reasonable and practicable. (Added P.L. 92–188, § 2(2).)

§ 708. Premium payments

The Administrator shall, by regulations, prescribe the time and method of payment of the premiums on insurance, but payments of premiums in advance shall not be required for periods of more than one month each, and may at the election of the insured be deducted from his active-service pay or be otherwise made. An amount equal to the first premium due under a National Service Life Insurance policy may be advanced from current appropriations for active-serv ice pay to any person in the active service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard, which amount shall constitute a lien upon any service or other pay accruing to the person for whom such advance was made and shall be collected therefrom if not otherwise paid. No disbursing or certifying officer shall be responsible for any loss incurred by reason of such advance. Any amount so advanced in excess of available service or other pay shall constitute a lien on the policy within the provisions of section 3101(b) of this title.

§ 709. Effective date of insurance

Insurance may be made effective, as specified in the application, not later than the first day of the calendar month following the date of application therefor, but the United States shall not be liable thereunder for death occurring before such effective date.

§ 710. Incontestability

Subject to the provisions of section 711 of this title all contracts or policies of insurance heretofore or hereafter issued, reinstated, or converted shall be incontestable from the date of issue, reinstatement, or conversion except for fraud, nonpayment of premium, or on the

ground that the applicant was not a member of the military or naval forces of the United States. However, in any case in which a contract or policy of insurance is canceled or because of fraud, the Administrator shall refund to the insured, if living, or, if deceased, to the person designated as beneficiary (or if none survives, to the estate of the insured) all money, without interest, paid as premiums on such contract or policy for any period subsequent to two years after the date such fraud induced the Veterans' Administration to issue, reinstate, or convert such insurance less any dividends, loan, or other payment made to the insured under such contract or policy.

§711. Forfeiture

Any person guilty of mutiny, treason, spying, or desertion, or who, because of conscientious objections, refuses to perform service in the Armed Forces of the United States or refuses to wear the uniform of such force, shall forfeit all rights to National Service Life Insurance. No insurance shall be payable for death inflicted as a lawful punishment for crime or for military or naval offense, except when inflicted by an enemy of the United States; but the cash surrender value, if any, of such insurance on the date of such death shall be paid to the designated beneficiary, if living, or otherwise to the beneficiary or beneficiaries within the permitted class in accordance with the order specified in section 716(b) of this title.

§ 712. Total disability waiver

(a) Upon application by the insured and under such regulations as the Administrator may promulgate, payment of premiums on insurance may be waived during the continuous total disability of the insured, which continues or has continued for six or more consecutive months, if such disability began (1) after the date of his application for insurance, (2) while the insurance was in force under premiumpaying conditions, and (3) before the insured's sixty-fifth birthday. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, in any case in which the total disability of the insured commenced on or after his sixtieth birthday but before his sixty-fifth birthday, the Administrator shall not grant waiver of any premium becoming due prior to January 1, 1965. (Amended P.L. 88-364.)

(b) The Administrator, upon any application made after August 1, 1947, shall not grant waiver of any premium becoming due more than one year before the receipt in the Veterans' Administration of application for the same, except as provided in this section. Any premiums paid for months during which waiver is effective shall be refunded. The Administrator shall provide by regulations for examination or reexamination of an insured claiming benefits under this section, and may deny benefits for failure to cooperate. If it is found that an insured is no longer totally disabled, the waiver of premiums shall cease as of the date of such finding and the policy of insurance may be continued by payment of premiums as provided in said policy. In any case in which the Administrator finds that the insured's failure to make timely application for waiver of premiums or his failure to submit satisfactory evidence of the existence or continuance of total disability was due to circumstances beyond his control, the Administrator may grant waiver or continuance of waiver of premiums.

(c) If the insured dies without filing application for waiver, the beneficiary, within one year after the death of the insured, or, if the beneficiary is insane or a minor, within one year after removal of such legal disability, may file application for waiver with evidence of the insured's right to waiver under this section. Premium rates shall be calculated without charge for the cost of waiver of premiums provided in this section and no deduction from benefits otherwise payable shall be made on account thereof.

(d) In any case in which an insured has been denied or would have been denied premium waiver under section 602 (n) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940 or this section solely because he became totally disabled between the date of valid application for insurance and the subsequent effective date thereof, and in which it is shown that (1) the total disability was incurred in line of duty between October 8, 1940, and July 31, 1946, inclusive, or June 27, 1950, and April 30, 1951, inclusive, and (2) the insured remained continuously so totally disabled to the date of death or the date of enactment of this subsection, whichever is earlier, the Administrator may grant waiver of premiums from the beginning of and during the continuous total disability of such insured. Application for waiver of premiums under this subsection must be filed by the insured or, in the event of his death, by the beneficiary within two years after the date of enactment of this subsection, except that if the insured or the beneficiary be insane or a minor within the two-year period, application for such waiver may be filed within two years after removal of such legal disability, or if an insane insured shall die before the removal of the disability, application may be filed by the beneficiary within two years after the insured's death. No insurance shall be placed in force under this subsection in any case in which there was an award of benefits under the Servicemen's Indemnity Act of 1951 or of gratuitous insurance under section 722 (b) of this title. The amount of insurance placed in force hereunder together with any other United States Government life insurance or national service life insurance in force at the time of death, or at the time of the insured's application for waiver hereunder, may not exceed $10,000 and shall be reduced by the amount of any gratuitous insurance awarded under the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940. Waiver of premiums under this subsection shall render the insurance nonparticipating during the period such premium waiver is in effect. The cost of waiver of premium and death benefits paid as a result of this subsection shall be borne by the United States. (Added P.L. 86–497.) § 713. Death before six months' total disability

Whenever premiums are not waived under section 712 of this title solely because the insured died prior to the continuance of total disability for six months, and proof of such facts, satisfactory to the Administrator, is filed by the beneficiary with the Veterans' Administration within one year after the insured's death, his insurance shall be deemed to be in force at the date of his death, and the unpaid premiums shall become a lien against the proceeds of his insurance. If the beneficiary is insane or a minor, proof of such facts may be filed within one year after removal of such legal disability.

8714. Statutory total disabilities

Without prejudice to any other cause of disability, the permanent loss of the use of both feet, of both hands, or of both eyes, or of one foot and one hand, or of one foot and one eye, or of one hand and one eye, or the total loss of hearing of both ears, or the organic loss of speech, shall be deemed total disability for insurance purposes. §715. Total disability income provision

The Administrator shall, except as hereinafter provided, upon application by the insured and proof of good health satisfactory to the Administrator and payment of such extra premium as the Administrator shall prescribe, include in any National Service Life Insurance policy on the life of the insured (except a policy issued under section 620 of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, or section 722 of this title) provisions whereby an insured who is shown to have become totally disabled for a period of six consecutive months or more commencing after the date of such application and before attaining the age of sixty-five and while the payment of any premium is not in default, shall be paid monthly disability benefits from the first day of the seventh consecutive month of and during the continuance of such total disability of $10 for each $1,000 of such insurance in effect when such benefits become payable. The total disability provision authorized under this section shall not be issued unless application therefor is made either prior to the insured's fifty-fifth birthday, or before the insured's sixtieth birthday and prior to January 1, 1966. The total disability provision authorized under this section shall not be added to a policy containing the total disability coverage heretofore issued under section 602 (v) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, or the provisions of this section as in effect before January 1, 1965, except upon surrender of such total disability coverage, proof of good health, if required, satisfactory to the Administrator, and payment of such extra premium as the Administrator shall determine is required in such cases. Participating policies containing additional provisions for the payment of disability benefits may be separately classified for the purpose of dividend dis tribution from otherwise similar policies not containing such benefits (Amended P.L. 88-355.)

§716. Insurance which matured before August 1, 1946

(a) Insurance which matured before August 1, 1946, is payable in the following manner:

(1) If the beneficiary to whom payment is first made was under thirty years of age at the time of maturity, in two hundred and forty equal monthly installments.

(2) If the beneficiary to whom payment is first made was thirty or more years of age at the time of maturity, in equal monthly installments for one hundred and twenty months certain, with such payments continuing during the remaining lifetime of such beneficiary.

(3) If elected by the insured or a beneficiary entitled to make such an election under prior provisions of law, as a refund life income in monthly installments payable for such period certain as may be required in order that the sum of the installments cer