Life insurance for your family

01 April 2022

There are different types of life insurance that can help protect your family. Here, we take a look at some of the various stages of life where a family life insurance plan could help protect your nearest and dearest.

Who needs family life insurance?

Getting married and having children tend to be the biggest triggers in making life insurance decisions, so it’s not uncommon for people to only seriously consider life insurance once they have a family. But which product is right for you? There are countless UK family life insurance policies, but rather than wade through different policies, you should start by considering your own life situation.

We've profiled some examples of family set-ups below and how life insurance could benefit them.

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?

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Here are three types of life insurance to help protect your family

1. Life insurance
Life insurance gives you much needed peace of mind in knowing that if you were to die while you're covered by the policy, it could pay out a cash sum. It could be used to help protect your family's lifestyle and everyday living expenses or help to pay the mortgage.

2. Decreasing life insurance
If you have a young family and you own a property, you may want to consider decreasing life insurance, which is designed to protect a repayment mortgage. Your cover amount decreases approximately in line with the way a repayment mortgage decreases.

3. Critical illness cover
If you can stretch your monthly budget a little further, it might be worth looking into Critical Illness Cover too. It’s an option that can be added for an extra cost when you take out our Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance, and could help minimise the financial impact on you and your family if you were to become critically ill. Children’s Critical Illness Cover is automatically included, which could offer some financial relief during a difficult time. We can help you decide how much critical illness cover you need with our dedicated guide.

Families 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.

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.

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.

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. Or if you have an interest only mortgage or simply want to financially protect your loved ones, Life Insurance could be a better option for you.

Life insurance in a pandemic

It seems like a while ago now, but the COVID-19 pandemic created economic uncertainty in households across the UK and the world. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), employed parents were less likely to be furloughed since the beginning of 2021, unlike in the first phase of lockdown, but were still more likely to report reduced income than non-parents. 

Life Insurance pays out upon the death of the insured person while covered by the policy, and tragically, more than 140,000 people have died in the UK as a result of COVID-19 as of November 2021. Additionally, many people have experienced long-term illnesses during the pandemic, which may underline the importance of other types of protection, for example income protection insurance. This is where you receive a regular monthly benefit if you can’t work due to incapacity caused by injury or illness which results in loss of earnings.

Let’s face it – unforeseen events like a pandemic are not in any of our preferred life plans, but being aware of your financial landscape could help you determine how much life insurance your family needs, whatever the future may bring.

A summary of the benefits of getting life insurance for your family

Some things in life simply aren’t worth worrying about. And like millions of parents, making sure your family are protected is no doubt your number one priority. Here are some of the benefits of Legal & General life insurance:

  • Premiums from only £5 a month depending on the cover that you need and your individual circumstances
  • Your cash sum could help pay the mortgage, rent or help with everyday living expenses
  • Peace of mind for you knowing life insurance can help financially protect your loved ones
  • Option to add Critical Illness Cover for an additional cost when you take out your policy

Making changes to your Legal & General life insurance policy

When you’re thinking of starting or adding to your family, there are certain specified life events where you may be able to increase the amount of cover you have without answering any further medical questions. For example, following 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 length of the term. Terms and conditions apply, and for other changes we would assess your request based on your circumstances at the time.

Help protect your family’s financial future

From Life Insurance to Critical Illness Cover, Legal & General offers various life insurance plans for you and your family. Whatever your family’s circumstances, there’s never a bad time to put you and your loved one’s security first.

Remember – life insurance is not a savings or investment product and has no cash value unless a valid claim is made.

Find out more about our life insurance plans.

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