Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Operations Life Partners Position Holder Trust (the “Position Holder Trust” or the “Trust”) was created on December 9, 2016, pursuant to the Revised Third Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization of Life Partners Holdings, Inc., et al., dated as of October 27, 2016, which we call the “Plan,” that was confirmed by order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division (“Bankruptcy Court”) on November 1, 2016, as amended. The Trust holds and manages individual insurance policies from third parties. In connection with its formation and the inception of its activities on December 9, 2016, the Trust issued a total of 1,012,355,948 units of beneficial interest (the “Units”) to the fractional interest holders having claims in the Debtors bankruptcy pursuant to the Plan. Each fractional interest holder received a Unit for each dollar of expected death benefit such holder contributed to the Trust. As of March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, there were 9,716 and 9,678 holders of the 1,243,505,906 and 1,235,715,080 units outstanding, respectively. The Trust owns a portfolio of life insurance policies; a portion of the policies is encumbered by the beneficial interest of continuing fractional interest holders. The Trust’s portion of the portfolio consists of positions in 2,870 and 2,896 life insurance policies, with aggregate fair values of $178.8 million and $172.2 million and aggregate face values of approximately $1.1 billion and $1.1 billion at March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, respectively. The fair value of the interests in the life insurance policies owned by continuing fractional interest holders are not reflected in the Trust’s financial statements. The Bankruptcy Court organized the Trust and the Partnership in order to liquidate the assets of the Debtors in a manner calculated to conserve, protect and maximize the value of the assets, and to distribute the proceeds thereof to the Trust’s securities holders in accordance with the Plan. The Trust and IRA Partnership have no other business interests nor operations and will not acquire any additional life insurance policies in the future. The Trust’s beginning assets and liabilities were contributed pursuant to the Plan as of December 9, 2016. Covid-19 Pandemic Update The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak did not have a material adverse effect on the Trust's operations for the first quarter of 2020. The extent to which the Trust will be impacted by the outbreak will largely depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the outbreak and actions by government authorities to contain the outbreak or treat its impact, among other things. The Trust does not believe the COVID-19 will have any material impact on timing of receipt of maturities. The Trust will continue to monitor the impact of risk associated with default on future premium obligations by the continuing fractional holders which would increase the Trust's premium obligations and any risk associated with default on payment obligations by the insurance policy carriers. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation In the opinion of management, the financial statements of the Trust as of March 31, 2020 and for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 include all adjustments and accruals, consisting only of normal, recurring accrual adjustments, which are necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods. These interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") have been condensed in or omitted from this report pursuant to the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). These financial statements should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Trust's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the Plan. The Trust’s primary purpose is the liquidation of the Trust’s assets and the distribution of proceeds to its beneficial interest holders. The Trust expects that fulfilling its purpose requires a significant amount of time, and that the Trust will have significant ongoing operations during that period due to the nature of its assets and its plan to maximize the proceeds to its beneficiaries by maintaining the majority of its life insurance policies until maturity. As a result, the Trust has concluded that its liquidation is not imminent, in accordance with the definitions under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and has not applied the liquidation basis of accounting in presenting its financial statements. The Trust will continue to evaluate its operations to determine when its liquidation becomes imminent and the liquidation basis of accounting is required. Investments in Life Insurance Policies The Trust accounts for its interests in life insurance policies at fair value in accordance with ASC 325-30, Investments in Insurance Contracts. Any resulting changes in estimates are reflected in operations in the period the change becomes apparent. Fair Value of Life Insurance Policies The Trust follows ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, in estimating the fair value of its life insurance policies, which defines fair value as an exit price representing the amount that would be received if an asset were sold or that would be paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. As a basis for considering such assumptions, the guidance establishes a three-level, fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. Level 1 relates to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 relates to observable inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1. Level 3 relates to unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities. The Trust’s investments in life insurance policies are considered to be Level 3 as there is currently no active market where the Trust is able to observe quoted prices for identical assets and the Trust’s valuation model incorporates significant inputs that are not observable. The Trust’s valuation of life insurance policies is a critical estimate within the financial statements. The Trust currently uses a probabilistic method of valuing life insurance policies, which the Trust believes to be the preferred valuation method in its industry. The Trust calculates the assets’ fair value using a present value technique to estimate the fair value of the projected future cash flows. The most significant assumptions in estimating the fair value are the Trust’s estimate of the insureds’ longevity, anticipated future premium obligations and the discount rate. See Note 6, “Fair Value Measurements.” Income Recognition The Trust’s investments in life insurance policies are its primary source of income. Gain or loss is recognized from ongoing changes in the portfolio’s estimated fair value, including any gains or losses at maturity. Gains or losses from maturities are recognized on receipt of an insured party’s death notice or verified obituary and determined based on the difference between the death benefit and the policy’s estimated fair value at maturity. Premiums Receivable The Trust assumed the Debtors’ receivables related to life insurance policy premiums and service fees that were paid to the Debtors on behalf of fractional interest holders prior to the Trust’s effective date. After December 9, 2016, the policy premiums allocable to continuing fractional interest holders are those persons' obligations and not the Trust. If a continuing fractional interest holder defaults on future premium obligations, such position is deemed contributed to the Trust in exchange for the number of Units provided by the Plan. The Trust maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability to collect premiums and service fees receivable. Such estimates are based on the position holder’s payment history and other indications of potential uncollectability. After all attempts to collect a receivable have failed, receivables are written off against the allowance. At March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the allowance for doubtful accounts was $3.2 million, which fully offset receivables assumed from the Debtors on the effective date. Outstanding receivable balances may be recoverable pursuant to the Trustee’s set-off rights under the Plan. Maturities Receivable Maturities receivable consist of the Trust’s portion of life insurance policy maturities that occurred, but payment was not yet received as of the end of the reporting period. Premium Liability Premium liabilities are funds in escrow on behalf of continuing fractional holders for future payment of their premium obligations. If such funds are not used for such continuing fractional holder’s premium payments, they are refunded to the respective continuing fractional holder. Maturity Liability Maturity liabilities are maturities collected on behalf of continuing factional holders pending payment. Distributions Payable Distributions payable are distributions declared by the Trust pending payment. Income Taxes No provision for state or federal income taxes from operations has been made as the liability for such taxes is attributable to the Unit holders rather than the Trust. The Trust is a grantor trust with taxable income or loss passing through to the Unit holders. In certain instances, however, the Trust may be required under applicable state laws to withhold amounts otherwise due to Unit holders and remit them directly to state or federal tax authorities. Such payments on behalf of the Unit holders are deemed distributions to them. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (the ”FASB”) has provided guidance for how uncertain tax positions should be recognized, measured, disclosed, and presented in the financial statements. This requires the evaluation of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the Trust’s tax returns to determine whether the tax positions are more-likely-than-not of being sustained when challenged or when examined by the applicable taxing authority. The Trust has no material uncertain income tax positions as of March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019. Use of Estimates The preparation of these financial statements, in conformity with GAAP, requires the Trust to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from these estimates and such differences could be material. The estimates related to the valuation of the life insurance policies represent significant estimates made by the Trust. Risks and Uncertainties The Trust encounters economic, legal, and longevity risk. The main components of economic risk potentially impacting the Trust are market risk, concentration of credit risk, and the increasing cost of insurance risk. The Trust’s market risks include interest rate risk and the risk of declines in valuation of the Trust’s life insurance policies, including declines caused by the selection of increased discount rates associated with the Trust’s fair value model. It is reasonably possible that future changes to estimates involved in valuing life insurance policies could change and materially affect future financial statements. Concentration of credit risk is the risk that an insurance carrier who has issued life insurance policies held by the Trust, does not remit the amount due under those policies due to the carrier’s deteriorating financial condition or otherwise. Another credit risk potentially impacting the Trust is the risk continuing fractional holders may default on their future premium obligations, increasing the Trust’s premium obligations. The increasing cost of insurance risk includes the carriers’ attempts to change a policy’s cost of insurance. While some cost of insurance increases are anticipated and taken into consideration in the Trust's forecasts, other cost of insurance increases are unilaterally imposed by the carrier. The main components of legal risk are: (i) the risk that an insurer could successfully challenge its obligation to pay policy benefits at maturity; and (ii) that an insured’s family could successfully challenge the Trust’s entitlement to an insurance policy’s benefits. In either case, there is also risk that the Trust would be unable to recover the premiums it paid towards the insurance policy. Longevity risk refers to the reasonable possibility that actual mortalities of insureds in the Trust’s portfolio extend over longer periods than are anticipated, resulting in the Trust paying more in premiums and delaying its collection of death benefits. Further, increased longevity may encourage additional continuing fraction holders to default on their premium obligations, increasing the Trust’s positions and its premium payment burden. The Trust management is continuing to evaluate any potential impact; however, such future revisions could have a material impact on the valuation. The Trust maintains the majority of its cash in several accounts with a commercial bank. Balances on deposit are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). However, from time to time the Trust's balances may exceed the FDIC insurable amounts. Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, "Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement" which modified the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement. The update removed or modified some existing disclosure requirements and added other requirements including requiring disclosure of the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. For certain unobservable inputs, an entity may disclose other quantitative information (such as the median or arithmetic average) in lieu of the weighted average if the entity determines that other quantitative information would be a more reasonable and rational method to reflect the distribution of unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. The amendments in this Update are effective for all entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. The amendments on changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements, and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty have been applied prospectively as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. All other amendments were applied retrospectively to all periods presented upon their effective date. There is no significant impact to the Trust's disclosures associated with the adoption of ASU 2018-13.

Life Partners Position Holder Trust (the “Position Holder Trust” or the “Trust”) was created on December 9, 2016, pursuant to the Revised Third Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization of Life Partners Holdings, Inc., et al., dated as of October 27, 2016, which we call the “Plan,” that was confirmed by order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division (“Bankruptcy Court”) on November 1, 2016, as amended. The Trust holds and manages individual insurance policies from third parties.

In connection with its formation and the inception of its activities on December 9, 2016, the Trust issued a total of 1,012,355,948 units of beneficial interest (the “Units”) to the fractional interest holders having claims in the Debtors bankruptcy pursuant to the Plan. Each fractional interest holder received a Unit for each dollar of expected death benefit such holder contributed to the Trust. As of March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, there were 9,716 and 9,678 holders of the 1,243,505,906 and 1,235,715,080 units outstanding, respectively. The Trust owns a portfolio of life insurance policies; a portion of the policies is encumbered by the beneficial interest of continuing fractional interest holders. The Trust’s portion of the portfolio consists of positions in 2,870 and 2,896 life insurance policies, with aggregate fair values of $178.8 million and $172.2 million and aggregate face values of approximately $1.1 billion and $1.1 billion at March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, respectively. The fair value of the interests in the life insurance policies owned by continuing fractional interest holders are not reflected in the Trust’s financial statements.

The Bankruptcy Court organized the Trust and the Partnership in order to liquidate the assets of the Debtors in a manner calculated to conserve, protect and maximize the value of the assets, and to distribute the proceeds thereof to the Trust’s securities holders in accordance with the Plan. The Trust and IRA Partnership have no other business interests nor operations and will not acquire any additional life insurance policies in the future. The Trust’s beginning assets and liabilities were contributed pursuant to the Plan as of December 9, 2016.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak did not have a material adverse effect on the Trust's operations for the first quarter of 2020. The extent to which the Trust will be impacted by the outbreak will largely depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the outbreak and actions by government authorities to contain the outbreak or treat its impact, among other things.

The Trust does not believe the COVID-19 will have any material impact on timing of receipt of maturities. The Trust will continue to monitor the impact of risk associated with default on future premium obligations by the continuing fractional holders which would increase the Trust's premium obligations and any risk associated with default on payment obligations by the insurance policy carriers.

In the opinion of management, the financial statements of the Trust as of March 31, 2020 and for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 include all adjustments and accruals, consisting only of normal, recurring accrual adjustments, which are necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods. These interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year.

Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") have been condensed in or omitted from this report pursuant to the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). These financial statements should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Trust's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the Plan.

The Trust’s primary purpose is the liquidation of the Trust’s assets and the distribution of proceeds to its beneficial interest holders. The Trust expects that fulfilling its purpose requires a significant amount of time, and that the Trust will have significant ongoing operations during that period due to the nature of its assets and its plan to maximize the proceeds to its beneficiaries by maintaining the majority of its life insurance policies until maturity. As a result, the Trust has concluded that its liquidation is not imminent, in accordance with the definitions under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and has not applied the liquidation basis of accounting in presenting its financial statements. The Trust will continue to evaluate its operations to determine when its liquidation becomes imminent and the liquidation basis of accounting is required.

The Trust follows ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, in estimating the fair value of its life insurance policies, which defines fair value as an exit price representing the amount that would be received if an asset were sold or that would be paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability.

As a basis for considering such assumptions, the guidance establishes a three-level, fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. Level 1 relates to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 relates to observable inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1. Level 3 relates to unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities. The Trust’s investments in life insurance policies are considered to be Level 3 as there is currently no active market where the Trust is able to observe quoted prices for identical assets and the Trust’s valuation model incorporates significant inputs that are not observable.

The Trust’s valuation of life insurance policies is a critical estimate within the financial statements. The Trust currently uses a probabilistic method of valuing life insurance policies, which the Trust believes to be the preferred valuation method in its industry. The Trust calculates the assets’ fair value using a present value technique to estimate the fair value of the projected future cash flows. The most significant assumptions in estimating the fair value are the Trust’s estimate of the insureds’ longevity, anticipated future premium obligations and the discount rate. See Note 6, “Fair Value Measurements.”

The Trust’s investments in life insurance policies are its primary source of income. Gain or loss is recognized from ongoing changes in the portfolio’s estimated fair value, including any gains or losses at maturity. Gains or losses from maturities are recognized on receipt of an insured party’s death notice or verified obituary and determined based on the difference between the death benefit and the policy’s estimated fair value at maturity.

The Trust assumed the Debtors’ receivables related to life insurance policy premiums and service fees that were paid to the Debtors on behalf of fractional interest holders prior to the Trust’s effective date. After December 9, 2016, the policy premiums allocable to continuing fractional interest holders are those persons' obligations and not the Trust. If a continuing fractional interest holder defaults on future premium obligations, such position is deemed contributed to the Trust in exchange for the number of Units provided by the Plan.

The Trust maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability to collect premiums and service fees receivable. Such estimates are based on the position holder’s payment history and other indications of potential uncollectability. After all attempts to collect a receivable have failed, receivables are written off against the allowance. At March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the allowance for doubtful accounts was $3.2 million, which fully offset receivables assumed from the Debtors on the effective date. Outstanding receivable balances may be recoverable pursuant to the Trustee’s set-off rights under the Plan.

No provision for state or federal income taxes from operations has been made as the liability for such taxes is attributable to the Unit holders rather than the Trust. The Trust is a grantor trust with taxable income or loss passing through to the Unit holders. In certain instances, however, the Trust may be required under applicable state laws to withhold amounts otherwise due to Unit holders and remit them directly to state or federal tax authorities. Such payments on behalf of the Unit holders are deemed distributions to them.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (the ”FASB”) has provided guidance for how uncertain tax positions should be recognized, measured, disclosed, and presented in the financial statements. This requires the evaluation of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the Trust’s tax returns to determine whether the tax positions are more-likely-than-not of being sustained when challenged or when examined by the applicable taxing authority. The Trust has no material uncertain income tax positions as of March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019.

The preparation of these financial statements, in conformity with GAAP, requires the Trust to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from these estimates and such differences could be material. The estimates related to the valuation of the life insurance policies represent significant estimates made by the Trust.

The Trust encounters economic, legal, and longevity risk. The main components of economic risk potentially impacting the Trust are market risk, concentration of credit risk, and the increasing cost of insurance risk. The Trust’s market risks include interest rate risk and the risk of declines in valuation of the Trust’s life insurance policies, including declines caused by the selection of increased discount rates associated with the Trust’s fair value model. It is reasonably possible that future changes to estimates involved in valuing life insurance policies could change and materially affect future financial statements. Concentration of credit risk is the risk that an insurance carrier who has issued life insurance policies held by the Trust, does not remit the amount due under those policies due to the carrier’s deteriorating financial condition or otherwise. Another credit risk potentially impacting the Trust is the risk continuing fractional holders may default on their future premium obligations, increasing the Trust’s premium obligations. The increasing cost of insurance risk includes the carriers’ attempts to change a policy’s cost of insurance. While some cost of insurance increases are anticipated and taken into consideration in the Trust's forecasts, other cost of insurance increases are unilaterally imposed by the carrier.

The main components of legal risk are: (i) the risk that an insurer could successfully challenge its obligation to pay policy benefits at maturity; and (ii) that an insured’s family could successfully challenge the Trust’s entitlement to an insurance policy’s benefits. In either case, there is also risk that the Trust would be unable to recover the premiums it paid towards the insurance policy.

Longevity risk refers to the reasonable possibility that actual mortalities of insureds in the Trust’s portfolio extend over longer periods than are anticipated, resulting in the Trust paying more in premiums and delaying its collection of death benefits. Further, increased longevity may encourage additional continuing fraction holders to default on their premium obligations, increasing the Trust’s positions and its premium payment burden. The Trust management is continuing to evaluate any potential impact; however, such future revisions could have a material impact on the valuation.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, "Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement" which modified the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement. The update removed or modified some existing disclosure requirements and added other requirements including requiring disclosure of the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. For certain unobservable inputs, an entity may disclose other quantitative information (such as the median or arithmetic average) in lieu of the weighted average if the entity determines that other quantitative information would be a more reasonable and rational method to reflect the distribution of unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. The amendments in this Update are effective for all entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. The amendments on changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements, and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty have been applied prospectively as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. All other amendments were applied retrospectively to all periods presented upon their effective date. There is no significant impact to the Trust's disclosures associated with the adoption of ASU 2018-13.