Glossary

Dividend addition is an option regarding payment of dividends to insureds that is offered by some life insurers, particularly mutual companies. There are a number of alternative ways dividends may be paid, such as in cash, as an increase to the policy's cash value, or as a paid-up addition. Under this alternative, the dividend is used to purchase a paid-up single premium increase in the policy's face value, thereby increasing the death benefits.

Dividend options are varying ways in which insureds may elect to receive dividends under a life insurance policy. Dividends may be received in the form of cash payments, as increases to the policy's cash value, or as paid-up additional insurance.

A divisible contract clause provides that violation of the conditions of the policy at one location will not void the coverage at other locations.

A docket control system is used by attorneys to alert them to upcoming filing deadlines and statutes of limitations on specific legal actions, motions, and cases. Use of docket control systems is a critical tool in preventing professional liability claims from being made against attorneys. This is because studies have shown that a significant percentage of claims involve losses caused by the failure to meet filing and statutory deadlines for various types of legal actions.

The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, made dramatic, sweeping changes to the nation's financial regulatory system. This law was enacted to make the US financial system more transparent and accountable and to prevent the type of financial crisis that occurred during 2008. Three specific provisions within Dodd-Frank are likely to increase the nature and scope of legal liability faced by corporate directors and officers. These include the "clawback" provision, the whistle-blower provision, and the "say-on-pay" provision.

A domestic insurer is an insurer that is both domiciled and licensed in the state in which insurance is written.

Domestic terrorism is the unlawful use of force by a group/individual operating within the United States without foreign direction committed against persons/property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

An insurer's domicile is the jurisdiction, typically a state or country, where it is formed or incorporated. The domicile determines the regulatory authority that is principally responsible for overseeing the insurer. For a captive insurer, the domicile is the location in which it is licensed to conduct insurance business. Several factors that must be considered when selecting the most appropriate and best domicile for a given captive insurer include capitalization and surplus requirements, investment restrictions, income and local tax obligations, formation and ongoing operating costs, acceptance by fronting insurers and reinsurers, availability of banking and other services, and geographic proximity.

The domicile manager In a captive insurance company is the person whose role it is to keep the books, pay bills, record and maintain excess and reinsurance contracts, and interface with regulators. The exigency of today's financial and regulatory worlds compels the manager to perform more services, at a higher level of professionalism, than was expected in the past. In most domiciles, the regulators require, or at least strongly encourage if the legislation does not mandate, that captive owners retain a professional management firm to keep the records and actually manage the captive.

The domino theory is a theory of accident causation and control, that was developed by H.W. Henirch. It purports that all accidents, whether in a residence or a workplace environment, are the result of a chain of events. The chain of events consists of the following sequential factors: ancestry and social environment, an individual's mistake, an unsafe action and/or physical hazard, the actual accident, and an injury as the result of the preceding factors. These factors are described as dominoes, and the removal of any one of these five factors can prevent the accident.