On March 16, 2009, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the "Committee") established the 2009 Severance Plan for Officers of Lincoln National Corporation (the "Severance Plan") to clarify prior severance practices. The Severance Plan is effective for the one-year period beginning on January 1, 2009 and ending on December 31, 2009. The Severance Plan provides severance benefits to our officers, and specifically, provides for 52 weeks of severance benefits to our executive officers, including our named-executive officers, as well as a lump-sum severance payment of $200/week for each week of the severance period. Executive officers are paid in a lump sum no earlier than the first day of the month which is six months after the date the officer's job was eliminated.

In order to qualify for benefits under the Severance Plan, each affected officer must sign our standard form of agreement, waiver and release of claims which will include a non-compete provision, among other conditions.

The foregoing is a summary of the terms of the Severance Plan and is qualified in its entirety by the Severance Plan document, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated herein by reference.

On March 16, 2009, Lincoln National Corporation, or LNC, issued a press release announcing the several leadership appointments among its executive officers. Mark E. Konen, previously President of Insurance Solutions and interim head of Retirement Solutions, has been formally named President of Retirement Solutions, in addition to Insurance Solutions. Charles C. Cornelio has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. Additionally, Heather Dzielak has been named Chief Marketing Officer.

LNC also announced company-wide restructuring efforts, in addition to those initiated at the end of 2008, which together are expected to produce estimated run-rate cost savings of approximately $250 million, pre-DAC and pre-tax, by year-end 2009. The recent reduction of the quarterly common dividend to $0.01 per share along with the after-tax impact of the expense reductions is expected to reduce LNC's annual cash requirements by approximately $550 million.

A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.2.

The statements referenced in this report and in other written or oral statements made by LNC or on LNC's behalf are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"). A forward-looking statement is a statement that is not a historical fact and, without limitation, includes any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words like: "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "project", "will", "shall" and other words or phrases with similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, trends in our

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results contained in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially, some of which are described within the forward-looking statements include, among others:

· Continued deterioration in general economic and business conditions, both domestic and foreign, that may affect foreign exchange rates, premium levels, claims experience, the level of pension benefit costs and funding and investment results;

· Continued economic declines and credit market illiquidity could cause us to realize additional impairments on investments and certain intangible assets, including goodwill and a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets, which may reduce future earnings and/or affect our financial condition and ability to raise additional capital or refinance existing debt as it matures;

· Uncertainty about the impact of the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program on the economy; and Lincoln's ability to participate in the program;

· Legislative, regulatory or tax changes, both domestic and foreign, that affect the cost of, or demand for, Lincoln's products, the required amount of reserves and/or surplus, or otherwise affect our ability to conduct business, including changes to statutory reserves and/or risk-based capital requirements related to secondary guarantees under universal life and variable annuity products such as Actuarial Guideline VACARVM; restrictions on revenue sharing and 12b-1 payments; and the potential for U.S. Federal tax reform;

· The initiation of legal or regulatory proceedings against Lincoln or its subsidiaries, and the outcome of any legal or regulatory proceedings, such as:
(a) adverse actions related to present or past business practices common in businesses in which Lincoln and its subsidiaries compete; (b) adverse decisions in significant actions including, but not limited to, actions brought by federal and state authorities and extra-contractual and class action damage cases; (c) new decisions that result in changes in law; and (d) unexpected trial court rulings;

· Changes in interest rates causing a reduction of investment income, the margins of Lincoln's fixed annuity and life insurance businesses and demand for Lincoln's products;

· A decline in the equity markets causing a reduction in the sales of Lincoln's products, a reduction of asset-based fees that Lincoln charges on various investment and insurance products, an acceleration of amortization of deferred acquisition costs, value of business acquired, deferred sales inducements and deferred front-end loads and an increase in liabilities related to guaranteed benefit features of Lincoln's variable annuity products;

· Ineffectiveness of Lincoln's various hedging strategies used to offset the impact of changes in the value of liabilities due to changes in the level and volatility of the equity markets and interest rates;

· A deviation in actual experience regarding future persistency, mortality, morbidity, interest rates or equity market returns from Lincoln's assumptions used in pricing its products, in establishing related insurance reserves and in the amortization of intangibles that may result in an increase in reserves and a decrease in net income, including as a result of stranger-originated life insurance business;

· Changes in GAAP that may result in unanticipated changes to Lincoln's net income;

· Lowering of one or more of the insurer financial strength ratings of Lincoln's insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability of its insurance subsidiaries and liquidity;

· Significant credit, accounting, fraud or corporate governance issues that may adversely affect the value of certain investments in the portfolios of Lincoln's companies requiring that Lincoln realize losses on such investments;

· The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Lincoln's ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;

· The adequacy and collectibility of reinsurance that Lincoln has purchased;

· Acts of terrorism, war or other man-made and natural catastrophes that may adversely affect Lincoln's businesses and the cost and availability of reinsurance;

· Competitive conditions, including pricing pressures, new product offerings and the emergence of new competitors, that may affect the level of premiums and fees that Lincoln can charge for its products;

· The unknown impact on Lincoln's business resulting from changes in the demographics of Lincoln's client base, as aging baby-boomers move from the asset-accumulation stage to the asset-distribution stage of life; and

· Loss of key management, portfolio managers in the Investment Management segment, financial planners or wholesalers.

The risks included here are not exhaustive. LNC's annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and other documents filed with the SEC include additional factors which could impact LNC's business and financial performance. Moreover, LNC operates in a rapidly changing and competitive environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors.

Further, it is not possible to assess the impact of all risk factors on LNC's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. In addition, LNC disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of the release.

(c) Exhibits.

The following Exhibits are being furnished with this Form 8-K.

         Exhibit
         Number            Description

           99.1              2009 Severance Plan for Officers of Lincoln National
                           Corporation effective March 16, 2009

           99.2              Lincoln National Corporation press release dated March
                           16, 2009