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Life Insurance Subsidiaries Level 3 (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2012
Life Insurance Subsidiaries [Abstract] |
Statutory Accounting Practices Disclosure [Table Text Block] | Statutory accounting practices prescribed or permitted by regulatory authorities for our life insurance subsidiaries differ from GAAP. Net income for our primary life insurance subsidiary as determined in accordance with statutory accounting practices was as follows:
| Year Ended December 31,
| 2012 |  | 2011 |  | 2010
| (Dollars in thousands)
American Equity Life | 82,039 |  |  | 169,365 |  |  | 177,311 |
Statutory capital and surplus for our primary life insurance subsidiary was as follows:
| December 31,
| 2012 |  | 2011
| (Dollars in thousands)
American Equity Life | $ | 1,658,929 |  |  | $ | 1,597,018 |
American Equity Life is domiciled in the state of Iowa and is regulated by the Iowa Insurance Division. Life insurance companies are subject to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") risk-based capital (RBC) requirements which are intended to be used by insurance regulators as an early warning tool to identify deteriorating or weakly capitalized insurance companies for the purpose of initiating regulatory action. Calculations using the NAIC formula indicated that American Equity Life's ratio of total adjusted capital to the highest level of required capital at which regulatory action might be initiated (Company Action Level) is as follows:
| December 31,
| 2012 |  | 2011
| (Dollars in thousands)
Total adjusted capital | $ | 1,741,638 |  |  | $ | 1,655,205 |
Company Action Level RBC | 524,928 |  |  | 479,023 |
Ratio of adjusted capital to Company Action Level RBC | 332 | % |  | 346 | %
Prior approval of regulatory authorities is required for the payment of dividends to American Equity Investment Life Holding Company ("Parent Company") by American Equity Life which exceed an annual limitation. American Equity Life may pay dividends without prior approval, unless such payments, together with all other such payments within the preceding twelve months, exceed the greater of (1) net gain from operations before net realized capital losses for the preceding calendar year or, (2) 10% of the American Equity Life's capital and surplus at the preceding year-end. The amount of dividends permitted to be paid by American Equity Life to its Parent Company without prior approval of regulatory authorities (no dividends were paid by any of our insurance subsidiaries for any of the years presented in these financial statements) is $99.2 million as of December 31, 2012.

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of how the entity's reporting under GAAP as of the balance sheet date differs from the results based on prescribed and permitted accounting practices of the state or country of domicile in which a relevant statutory filing is made, or differences in results based on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) prescribed practices, or a combination thereof. Describes the accounting practices used and the related monetary effect on statutory surplus, net income, and risk-based capital. If an insurance enterprise's risk-based capital would have triggered a regulatory event had it not used a permitted practice, that fact is disclosed in the financial statements. Permitted statutory accounting practices include practices not prescribed but allowed by the domiciliary state insurance department regulatory authority. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 505 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486098&loc=d3e24790-158529 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 60 -Paragraph 60 -Subparagraph h -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-5 -Paragraph 8, 9 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 505 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486098&loc=d3e24708-158529 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 505 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486098&loc=d3e24746-158529 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 210 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03.23(c)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 505 -Section 55 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6588579&loc=d3e24938-158530 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 505 -Section 55 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6588579&loc=d3e24959-158530 + Details
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