CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2010
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Separate account balances	$ 9,601,417,000	$ 6,741,959,000	[1]
Acquisitions | CALIC
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Guaranteed amount payable	20,900,000
Annuity account balances
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Balances subject to GMWB	7,200,000,000
Annuity account balances | CALIC
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Number of insurance companies that manufactured and administered traditional life insurance and annuity products	5
Number of non-insurance companies	4
Average attained age of contract holders	64 years
Percentage of variable annuity business of Chase Insurance Group reinsured	100.00%
Annuity account balances | Guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB)
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Interest rate at which last anniversary date account value is compounded (as a percent)	5.00%
Mean investment performance (as a percent)	6.54%
Mortality rate assumed (as a percent)	57.00%
Lapse, low end of range (as a percent)	0.80%
Lapse, high end of range (as a percent)	38.70%
Average discount rate (as a percent)	6.20%
Separate account balances	9,600,000,000
Guaranteed amount payable	149,800,000
Average attained age of contract holders	67 years
Activity relating to GMDB reserves (excluding those 100% reinsured under the Modco agreement)
Balance at the beginning of the period	9,798,000	6,412,000		342,000
Incurred guarantee benefits	14,087,000	7,171,000		11,799,000
Less: Paid guarantee benefits	4,279,000	3,785,000		5,729,000
Balance at the end of the period	19,606,000	9,798,000		6,412,000
Annuity account balances | Guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB) | Annuities
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Guaranteed amount payable	129,300,000
Activity relating to GMDB reserves (excluding those 100% reinsured under the Modco agreement)
Balance at the end of the period	19,300,000
Annuity account balances | Guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB) | Acquisitions
CERTAIN NONTRADITIONAL LONG-DURATION CONTRACTS
Guaranteed amount payable	20,500,000
Activity relating to GMDB reserves (excluding those 100% reinsured under the Modco agreement)
Balance at the end of the period	$ 300,000

[1] Recast from previously reported information