Family life insurance

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What is family life insurance?

Family life insurance isn’t a specific product, but a general term for any life insurance policy that provides your family with financial support if you die.

Life insurance can offer a safety net to help your family pay off a mortgage, clear outstanding debts and manage everyday bills after you’re gone. The money could also go towards your children’s future expenses, like university or a car.

By combining life insurance with other products, such as critical illness cover, you can also have a buffer to help pay your bills if you’re unable to work.

How does family life insurance work?

Follow these steps to set up a family life insurance policy.

Choose your cover and policy term

Name your beneficiaries

Pay your monthly premiums

A claim is made if you die during the term

Who needs family life insurance cover?

Family life insurance could be suitable for:

New parents

Taking care of your family when you die is the last thing any new parent wants to think about. But knowing that you have financial protection in place can ease the burden of money worries.

Families with older children

Clothes, hobbies, cars and uni fees all add up, making older kids and teenagers more expensive than little ones. If your children were to lose a parent, life insurance can help cover the costs of raising them until they’re ready to fly the nest.

Stay-at-home parents

Life insurance isn’t just about covering the main breadwinner’s earnings. If a stay-at-home parent died, a life insurance policy could help the remaining parent cover childcare costs or reduced working hours.

Single parents

Financial pressures can feel even greater if you’re a single parent and sole breadwinner. Life insurance can help ensure your children will be taken care of financially if you’re no longer there to support them.

You'll typically pay £40^[¹^] a month for single policyholder level-term insurance and £28^[¹^] a month for decreasing-term cover.

Homeowners

A home is a massive financial commitment – and one that your family might not be able to take on without you. If you were to die, the right family life insurance policy could cover your mortgage payments, so your loved ones can stay in the family home.

How much does life insurance for families cost?

The cost of your premium will depend on a number of factors, including:

Your age - a 25-34 year old typically pays around £36 a month, versus £60 a month for someone aged over 65²
Your health and medical history
Your lifestyle – for example, a smoker typically pays around £11more per month for life insurance than a non-smoker²
How much cover you want.

Joint policies tend to be cheaper than two single policies as they pay out only once. And the younger you are when you take out the policy, the less you’re likely to pay for your premium.

Our easy-to-use life insurance calculator can help you work out how much cover you need.

Why should I get life insurance for my family?

Family life insurance could be worthwhile for a number of reasons, including:

Peace of mind – knowing your loved ones will be financially secure if you’re no longer around can give you comfort and allow you to focus on other things.
Protecting the family home – a life insurance payout could help your family cover the mortgage or rent so they don’t have the upheaval of moving.
Extra protection – life insurance policies can be tailored to give you and your family even more protection. Adding critical illness cover for an extra cost could protect you if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness.

Types of life insurance for families

There are three main types of life insurance policy to choose from, each with its own advantages and disadvantages to weigh up.

Different types of policy can be better suited to different situations, and you can also have more than one type of policy at the same time.

Level-term insurance

The lump sum paid out will be exactly what was agreed when the policy was set up
It can provide a lifeline to cover your family’s ongoing living costs and expenses
It’s considered the simplest type of life insurance
It tends to be more expensive than decreasing-term life insurance
Your family won’t receive a payout if you die after the term has ended
The payout remains fixed and won’t increase in line with inflation

Decreasing term insurance

Tends to be a cheaper type of life insurance cover
Can cover the cost of repaying your mortgage, which decreases over time
Good option to protect your family’s finances if you’re on a tight budget
The payout could be quite small towards the end of the policy term
Won’t pay out if you die after the policy term has ended
Might not leave your family anything to cover expenses aside from a mortgage

Whole-of-life-insurance

Guarantees your family a payout no matter when you die
Some policies have an investment element that allows you to build up a cash value in the policy and will allow you to tap into this while you are still alive
Payout can be used to help cover inheritance tax
Tends to be the most expensive type of life insurance as the payout is guaranteed
Policies can be complex
The cash value could be less than you have paid in

Which life insurance is best for families?

The best life insurance for your family depends on your specific needs and what stage you’re at in your life. Think about your current income and your family’s future. This will help inform your decision about the type of life insurance to choose.

A good way to see what’s out there is by comparing quotes and cover to make sure your family are taken care of financially. When shopping around, here are some key questions to consider:

Is the payout enough to cover your family’s financial needs?
Are the monthly premiums affordable?
Do you want to be covered for the duration of your life or a fixed term?
Do you want the payout just to cover your remaining mortgage or ongoing expenses?
Do you want your life insurance policy to build cash value?
Do you want to add extras like critical illness cover?

For example, it typically costs a non-smoker around £30³ a month for £50,000-£99,999 of cover on a 10 year term. Bumping this up to £250,000 of cover would typically cost around £63³ a month.

What our expert says...

“If you have children, life insurance is crucial. Especially when you consider that, according to Child Bereavement UK, an estimated 127 children under the age of 17 lose a parent every day. While some of us get life insurance cover through our employers, it’s often not enough to provide a safe future for our families.”

Tim Knighton, Life, health and income protection insurance expert

Should I take out a single or joint policy?

Whether you take out a single or joint policy will depend on your personal circumstances. Joint policies can often be cheaper, but things could get tricky if you were to divorce or separate. Here’s an outline of each:

Single life insurance

Single life insurance policies cover just one person – the named policyholder. You can name your partner, children or other family members as beneficiaries, who’ll receive a payout if you die within the policy term.

If you have a partner who intends to care for the kids after you’re gone, it might make sense to name them as the beneficiary. But if you’re seeking family life insurance to make sure your children are provided for, you can write your policy in trust.

Writing your life insurance in trust means your trustees can usually spend the payout to cover expenses before the child comes of age. Then your children could receive a payout of what’s left once they come of age. But it will depend on the terms and type of the trust. Make sure you fully understand how the trust will work.

It also means the money won’t be counted for probate or inheritance tax purposes.

If you and your partner have single life insurance policies, both will pay out if you die within the policy term. If you both named your children as the beneficiaries, they’d each receive two payouts.

Joint life insurance

If you’re married, in a civil partnership or in a long-term relationship, you can take out a joint life insurance policy. This means the same policy covers both of you.

This type of family life insurance should cover the financial contributions both of you make to your household. Remember to also factor in the cost of childcare if one of you dies and the other has to go back to work.

Joint cover is often cheaper, but it only pays out after the first of the two policyholders dies. There’s no second payment when the other policyholder dies. To cover the second life for the future, you’d then need to take out a new policy. This could be more expensive as life insurance becomes more expensive the older you get.

If you both die at the same time, the money is usually added to the estate of the youngest, unless you’ve written the policy in trust. Particular care needs to be taken with joint policies written in trust to make sure benefits remain free of inheritance tax liabilities.

Are there alternatives to family life insurance?

Aside from family life insurance, there are a handful of other options that could provide your loved ones with a vital financial lifeline.

Family income benefit provides a monthly payout instead of a lump sum. It acts as a replacement for your salary for a set term: for example, until your mortgage has been paid off or your kids have left home.
Income protection can provide a monthly payment to cover up to 60% of your salary if you’re injured or become too sick to work.
Critical illness cover can be added to your life insurance policy or bought as a standalone product. It pays out a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with an illness that’s covered by your policy. To give you an idea, £50,000-£99,999 of critical illness cover typically costs £53² a month, compared to £96² a month for £150,000-£249,000 cover.
Death in service cover is offered free of charge by some employers as part of an employee benefits package. It pays a pre-agreed, lump-sum multiple of your salary if you die while on the payroll. For example: if you earn £40,000 a year and the agreement is five times your salary, your beneficiaries get £200,000.

How to compare family life insurance plans

We can help you compare life insurance in minutes. Use our simple comparison tool to compare both single and joint life insurance quotes.

Just give us a few details about yourself and how much cover you need, and we’ll send you a list of insurance providers to choose from. Your chosen provider will then ask you a few more questions about your health and lifestyle to give you a more tailored quote.

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FAQs

How often do I need to update my family life insurance policy?

It’s a good idea to regularly review your life insurance cover to make sure it meets your needs, especially if your circumstances change.

You can increase your cover if, for example, you have more children or buy a more expensive house, or your standard of living improves significantly. It’s likely you’ll have to pay a higher monthly premium, but your family’s growing needs will be covered.

What happens to family life insurance if I get divorced?

It depends on the type of policy you have. If you’re a single policyholder and want to change the beneficiary from your ex to someone else, this is usually quite straightforward. It can be more complicated if the life insurance policy is written in trust.

If you have a joint policy, you might be able to split it into two single policies. The other option is to cancel the policy and find new cover separately. You can find out more about how divorce affects your life insurance by checking your policy’s terms or speaking to your insurance provider.

Can I get life insurance for my kids?

Standalone life insurance policies don’t typically cover children. But it can be worth paying extra to add children’s critical illness cover to your policy. That way if your child falls ill or develops a serious condition covered by the policy, you should receive a lump-sum payout to help care for them.

At what age does life insurance expire?

The age at which life insurance expires depends on the type of policy you have. Some policies have a maximum age limit when they end, for example 90 years of age. Some expire when the policy term ends. Others last until the policyholder dies.

At what age should you get life insurance?

There’s no right or wrong age to get life insurance, but it's usually recommended to start it sooner rather than later. It’s likely to be cheaper the younger you are.

Your most important consideration, however, is the people who rely on you. You might want to start a policy when you buy a property with your partner or have children, for instance.

The minimum age for taking out a policy is usually 18.

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Reviewed 24 Jul 2026 by Tim Knighton Life, health and income protection insurance expert

Tim Knighton is an expert in building and managing relationships with big brands for the benefit of customers, with more than 20 years of experience. He seeks out the right products that look after you and those you love most during the toughest times.

Substantiations

¹Based on Trustpilot ratings (July 2026).

²Based on 51% of customers who compared quotes for this type of policy in June 2026.

³Based on 51% of customers who compared quotes for this type of policy between December 2025 and May 2026.