Life insurance for your family

How to choose a life insurance policy for a family

There are countless UK family life insurance policies, but rather than wade through different options, you could start by considering your own life situation. So, how can life insurance work for your family set-up? Let’s explore some different scenarios.

Life insurance for young families

If you’re thinking about having a baby, or you’ve just become a parent, family life insurance is definitely something you’ll want to consider. Life as a parent means you’re faced with a whole new set of responsibilities and financial considerations. Suddenly, you’re responsible for another person; someone who completely relies on you, well, for everything! If something happened to you or your partner, would the other parent cope with the financial consequences alone?

Here are three types of life insurance to help protect a young family:

Life insurance with older children

As your children grow up, the chances are they’ll have hobbies outside of school and the home. Depending on your cover amount, if a valid claim were made, life insurance could help towards protecting the mortgage, as well as helping to meet the ongoing costs your family incur. This can include hobbies – from horse riding to dance classes – to educational costs like private tutoring and school fees. In your wider family, a cash sum could also help meet an elderly parent’s care needs if they are financially dependent on you.

Life insurance for single parents

If you are the sole breadwinner and financial provider for your young brood, that can be a big responsibility. It's horrible to have to think about it, but have you considered who would look after your dependents and what financial support would they need if you were to die? Our Life insurance can give you peace of mind knowing your children could be cared for financially if the worst were to happen to you, while you're covered by the policy. It could pay out a cash sum to your beneficiaries to help them as they grow up. Read our guides to life insurance for mums and life insurance and dads.

Life insurance for new couples

Let’s face it – life insurance is not the best topic of conversation on a first date, but as a relationship progresses and you decide to move in together, there’s no reason why you can’t consider a single or joint life insurance policy. This could be important if you need both incomes to pay the bills. Single life insurance covers one person, whereas joint life insurance covers you and your partner. It’s important to note that a joint life insurance policy pays out when the first person dies, after which the cover ends. In contrast, two single polices will pay out upon each death, and gives you peace of mind knowing that should the relationship break down, your cover remains intact.

Life insurance for homeowners

If you’ve just secured your first home – congratulations! You may feel that all your money has been spent on mortgage fees, solicitors, estate agents and perhaps all those essential – and non-essential – renovations. So adding life insurance at this point can feel like one headache too many, right? While no one likes extra monthly costs, ask yourself if you or your partner could afford to stay in your home if one of you were to die without financial protection.

If you have a repayment mortgage, one option could be Decreasing Life Insurance, where the amount of cover reduces roughly in line with the way a repayment mortgage decreases. This is sometimes referred to as ‘mortgage life insurance’ – we explore this definition further in our guide to life insurance versus mortgage protection insurance

Alternatively, if you have an interest only mortgage or simply want to financially protect your loved ones, Life Insurance could offer the comprehensive cover you need. Life insurance could also be used to help protect a repayment mortgage.

Life insurance for self-employed parents

There are many advantages of being self-employed but you won't receive employee benefits. Without things like death in service, how can you protect the family finances? Many self-employed parents choose life insurance to protect their family if they die.

There are different types of protection for self-employed parents (or employed) parents. For example, income protection pays a regular monthly benefit if you can’t work due to incapacity caused by injury or illness which results in loss of earnings. This could help if you’re not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay. Speak to an adviser if you're interested in income protection. 

Making changes to your Legal & General life insurance policy

If you’re thinking of starting or adding to your family, you may be able to increase your cover without answering any further medical questions when you reach certain specified life events. Examples include the birth or legal adoption of a child, or entering into a marriage or registered civil partnership. 

You may also be able to make other changes to your policy, like changing the term length. Terms and conditions apply, and for other changes we would assess your request based on your circumstances at the time.