If you have a partner, you will understandably want to share your life cover with them just as you share your everyday life.

Your partner will probably be the first person who will need financial support in the event of your illness or death, which is why joint life insurance cover can be a suitable investment for couples.

If you set up joint life cover insurance, you will pay one premium to financially protect each of you in case of terminal illness or death of the other. The policy stops when a claim has been paid to the surviving person and these life insurance policies cannot be cashed in. You can, however, include a waiver benefit on one or both lives if you decide to. This keeps your payments going if you can’t work for more than six months because of illness or accidental injury.

As a couple, the amount of premium you pay will depend on:

  • The amount and length of cover you need.
  • Whether you include waiver benefit.
  • Smoking habits.
  • Your age, gender and occupation.
  • And things like pastimes and your family medical history.

These factors all affect your lifestyle as a couple and will therefore be taken into account for your joint insurance policy.

If you have a joint life insurance policy while unmarried and then decide to marry your partner, you will need to let your provider know. Marriage can change the premium you pay, so it is essential that your provider is aware of these details.

Joint life insurance cover will mean that your loved ones can receive a cash sum if you die during the cover period. You will know how much you will be investing for the rest of your life; unless you change the terms of your policy, most insurance providers will not increase your premium over the years.

Separate Life Insurance Cover.

Some couples choose to get separate life insurance cover. This can be a wise investment if one of you has a drastically different level of health to the other and women statistically pay less for their insurance than men do. Buying two individual policies can be beneficial because the surviving person is not left uninsured after the death of the first. From a practical point of view, individual policies can also make arranging inheritance tax easier and separate policies would also be less complicated than a joint policy in the unfortunate event of a divorce.