§ 4231. Policyholder's participation in surplus of life insurance\ncompanies. (a) (1) Except as herein otherwise provided, every domestic\nlife insurance company shall ascertain and distribute annually, and not\notherwise, the proportion of any surplus accruing upon every\nparticipating insurance policy and annuity or pure endowment contract\nentitled as hereinafter provided to share therein, issued on or after\nthe first day of January, nineteen hundred seven.\n (2) Upon the thirty-first day of December of each year, or as soon\nthereafter as practicable, every such company shall ascertain the\nsurplus earned by it during such year.\n (3) After setting aside from such surplus such sums as may be required\nfor the payment of authorized dividends upon the capital stock, if any,\nsuch sums as may properly be held for account of outstanding deferred\ndividend policies, if any, and such sums as may be deemed advisable for\nthe accumulation of a surplus not in excess of the maximum prescribed in\nthis chapter, every such company shall thereupon apportion the remainder\nof such earnings, if any, derived from participating policies and\ncontracts, equitably to all policies or contracts entitled to share\ntherein during the full dividend year adopted by the company for such\npurpose. Such apportionment shall not after the first policy year be\nmade contingent upon the payment of the whole or any part of the premium\nfor any subsequent policy year.\n (4) No dividend shall be apportioned or distributed for the first\npolicy or contract year unless, upon reasonable assumptions as to\nexpenses, mortality, policy and contract claims, investment income and\nlapses, it was actually earned for such year; nor shall any such company\ndefer the apportionment and distribution of dividends beyond the\ncalendar year following that in which they were earned, except that any\nsuch company which in good faith apportions and distributes its\ndivisible surplus (except on policies issued on a deferred dividend\nbasis prior to the first day of January, nineteen hundred seven, and\ncontinued as such thereafter) on an annual basis as dividends to all\nclasses of policies and contracts entitled to share therein, may\napportion and distribute all or any part of its accumulated surplus, in\nexcess of its required minimum surplus, as a part of its dividends\napportioned and distributed on an annual basis, or, with the approval of\nthe superintendent, at reasonable intervals with respect to any policy\nor contract or on its termination by death, maturity or surrender, as\nadditional or extra dividends in an amount deemed by him not inequitable\nin proportion to the annual dividends paid in preceding years on such\npolicies or contracts. When this apportionment and distribution at\nreasonable intervals, for a class of industrial life insurance policies,\ntakes the form of an equitable addition to the death benefit, the\nsuperintendent need not require any addition to the cash surrender\nvalues of the policies, anything in this chapter to the contrary\nnotwithstanding.\n (5) Dividends apportioned as aforesaid in the case of a policy or\ncontract, other than an industrial life insurance policy, issued on or\nafter the first day of January, nineteen hundred seven, shall, unless\notherwise provided in the policy or contract, be payable at the option\nof the company, either upon the anniversary of the policy or contract\nnext after each thirty-first day of December, or upon the anniversary of\nthe policy or contract next following each thirtieth day of April; and\nin every case after the first policy or contract year shall be payable\nupon the sole condition that premium or stipulated payments of the\npolicy or contract year current upon said respective dates shall have\nbeen completed.\n (b) (1) Except as hereinafter provided, the dividend so apportioned in\nthe case of any participating policy or contract issued on or after the\nfirst day of January, nineteen h
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