State annuity protection

Georgia Annuity Guaranty Protection: $250,000 Cash Value / $300,000 Benefit Limit

Georgia generally provides up to $300,000 in protection for the present value of covered annuity benefits, but eligible net cash surrender and withdrawal values are limited to $250,000.

Georgia annuity protection at a glance

Net cash surrender / withdrawal value
$250,000
For one covered life, Georgia caps protected surrender and withdrawal cash at $250,000 across all policies and contracts.
Present-value annuity benefits
$300,000
The broader present-value ceiling is $300,000, but the cash-surrender portion inside it still stops at $250,000.
Who provides protection
Georgia Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
When a member carrier fails, the Georgia Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association handles eligible contractual obligations within the limits and exclusions set by state law.
Insurer requirement
Member insurer
The carrier that issued the contract must fall within Georgia’s statutory definition of a member insurer.

How the $250,000 limit works

Georgia can protect as much as $300,000 of an eligible annuity’s present-value benefits. Within that total, protected net cash available on surrender or withdrawal cannot exceed $250,000.

At a single failed Georgia carrier, every eligible annuity tied to the same life shares the applicable ceiling; adding contracts does not multiply it.

A failure at another member carrier begins a separate Georgia calculation, while the state’s eligibility and interstate-coordination rules still control who can claim.

The applicable annuity-specific limit is applied together with Georgia’s separate aggregate limits. The $300,000 aggregate does not increase the $250,000 cash surrender and withdrawal-value limit.

  • Georgia’s broad annuity-benefit ceiling is $300,000 of present value, but protected surrender and withdrawal cash within it stops at $250,000.
  • A structured-settlement annuity can protect up to $300,000 for its qualifying payee—or for that payee’s beneficiary after death. A purchaser who acquired the payment rights through a factoring transaction is excluded.
  • A covered unallocated annuity has a separate $5 million maximum for an eligible plan sponsor or contract owner, subject to Georgia’s principal-place-of-business and other statutory eligibility rules.

A $300,000 annuity example

Assume an eligible deferred annuity has $300,000 in qualifying net cash surrender value when the member insurer becomes impaired or insolvent.

Annuity value

$300,000

Potential protection

$250,000

Possible receivership claim

$50,000

On these facts, the protected cash-value portion can reach $250,000. The other $50,000 continues, if at all, through the failed carrier’s receivership.

This illustration isolates Georgia’s $250,000 surrender-and-withdrawal cap inside the wider $300,000 present-value framework.

Which annuities are covered?

  • Fixed annuity

    Generally covered

    A qualifying fixed annuity uses Georgia’s two-part structure: no more than $250,000 of protected surrender or withdrawal cash inside a present-value benefit ceiling of $300,000.

  • Fixed indexed annuity (FIA)

    Generally covered

    A Georgia FIA can qualify through its insurer-backed promises. Index growth that has not vested may be left out; for a strategy that credits less frequently than annually, Georgia deems the failure trigger—solely for this calculation—to be the contractual crediting date.

  • Multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA)

    Generally covered

    A MYGA is generally treated as a fixed deferred annuity. Eligible net cash surrender and withdrawal value is subject to the $250,000 limit, along with Georgia’s statutory interest-rate restrictions.

  • Variable annuity

    Guaranteed portions may be covered

    For a variable annuity, Georgia can recognize only an eligible promise made by the carrier. Separate-account gains and losses left with the owner do not enter the protected amount.

  • Registered index-linked annuity (RILA)

    Contract-specific

    A Georgia RILA is considered only for a qualifying carrier guarantee; the owner’s market or index exposure remains outside association protection.

  • Unallocated annuity contract

    Limited situations

    Unallocated annuity contracts may be covered in limited circumstances. Coverage generally applies when the contract is issued to or in connection with a specific benefit plan whose plan sponsor has its principal place of business in Georgia, or to certain government-lottery arrangements; qualifying coverage is subject to a $5 million limit per contract owner or plan sponsor. Certain PBGC-protected plans are excluded.

Who may qualify?

  • Georgia measures residence when the carrier is determined to be impaired or insolvent. The Association FAQ describes this more simply by referring to liquidation.
  • For an ordinary Georgia contract, the eligible owner or certificate holder usually controls. Structured settlements and unallocated arrangements instead use their specific payee, beneficiary, contract-owner, and plan-sponsor tests.
  • A person living elsewhere has a narrow Georgia route: the failed carrier must be Georgia-domiciled and the person’s home-state association must provide no protection for the claim.
  • Georgia’s interstate coordination rules are intended to provide coverage through only one state guaranty association and prevent duplicate recoveries.

What is not covered?

  • Georgia leaves out contract value the member carrier never guaranteed and investment risk assigned to the owner.
  • Interest and other crediting factors are reduced when they exceed the benchmark permitted by Georgia’s guaranty statute.
  • Georgia excludes excess index value until it vests. If interest posts less frequently than annually, the law treats the failure trigger as the strategy’s posting event; the calculated value then becomes credited and nonforfeitable.
  • Eligible net cash surrender and withdrawal values remain subject to the $250,000 limit even though the broader present-value annuity limit is $300,000.

What happens when an insurer becomes impaired or insolvent?

  1. 1

    Determine the relevant impairment or insolvency date

    Residency and other statutory eligibility questions are evaluated using the applicable impairment or insolvency determination.

  2. 2

    Identify the covered annuity benefit

    Determine the eligible present-value annuity benefit and how much, if any, consists of net cash surrender or withdrawal value.

  3. 3

    Apply the applicable limits

    The calculation stops at $300,000 of eligible present value, with no more than $250,000 attributable to qualifying surrender or withdrawal cash.

  4. 4

    Coordinate amounts above guaranty protection

    Amounts above the applicable guaranty limits may remain claims against the failed insurer’s receivership estate, with additional recovery depending on available estate assets.

How the guaranty system is financed

When a covered Georgia failure requires funding, the Association can assess the member carriers rather than draw from the state treasury.

Assessment allocation
Member insurers
Georgia assigns a carrier’s assessment among statutory accounts and subaccounts using its applicable in-state premium and the Act’s allocation formula.
Annual assessment cap
2%
Georgia limits each account or subaccount’s annual call to 2% of the carrier’s covered in-state premium in the calendar year preceding the assessment.
Premium-tax treatment
20% per year for five years
Georgia lets a member carrier recover 20% of a qualifying call through premium tax during each of the five calendar years following the year in which that assessment was paid.
Benefit limits do not change with funding
Assessment funding does not enlarge an individual benefit: the $300,000 present-value ceiling still contains the separate $250,000 cap on surrender and withdrawal cash.

What to know before buying

  • The $300,000 present-value annuity limit does not mean that $300,000 of deferred cash surrender value is protected; eligible net cash surrender and withdrawal values remain capped at $250,000. Technical note: the current version of O.C.G.A. § 33-38-7 applies when a member insurer is placed under a liquidation order that includes an insolvency finding on or after July 1, 2020; older insolvencies may be governed by earlier statutory provisions.
  • Georgia bars references to the association in sales, solicitation, or inducement materials for a covered policy or annuity.

How state protection differs from FDIC insurance

  • What it covers
    State protection: Georgia guaranty protection may apply to eligible present-value annuity benefits, subject to the $250,000 limit on net cash surrender and withdrawal values and other statutory exclusions.
    FDIC: FDIC insurance reaches eligible bank deposits rather than contractual annuity value.
  • What system stands behind it
    State protection: Georgia law creates the guaranty association as a nonprofit body, finances it through member-carrier assessments, and places it under the Insurance Commissioner’s supervision.
    FDIC: The federal deposit system gives FDIC-insured balances full-faith-and-credit backing that Georgia association benefits lack.
  • Coverage-limit basis
    State protection: For one covered life, Georgia’s annuity-benefit maximum is $300,000 of present value, while eligible surrender and withdrawal cash within that amount stops at $250,000.
    FDIC: Deposit limits depend on depositor, insured institution, and ownership category.
  • Whether it applies to annuities
    State protection: Georgia’s association can protect a qualifying insurer-backed annuity obligation; the contract is not a bank deposit and receives no FDIC insurance.
    FDIC: An annuity is not an FDIC-insured account in deferred or payout form.

Sources and last verified

Last verified: September 19, 2026