Are there any disadvantages to getting a joint life insurance policy?

liz-paul

My husband & I need to get life insurance & I have been getting quotes for it. We were gonig to get policies for 20 years (to cover kids until 20 & 23 yrs old) for £400000 for hubby & £200000 for me. However for a couple of quid more each month we could get 25 years & £400000 each if we got a joint policy. But are there any disadvantages to getting a joint policy rather than a single one? The only thing I could think of is if we were to split in the future & then wanted single policies whcih might be a lot dearer by then as we would both be older & possibly have medical conditions etc. However if we split up we would probably still want life insurance for each other cos if one of us died the other would have to care for the children & earn all the money....
Hope this makes sense!

jonnyb

I would expect a joint policy to pay out only once, on the death of the first person covered.
Your 2 single policies are independent of each other, so both would pay out if necessary.
So if 400000 is the max you would want, and not the 600000 covered by 2 single policies, then you should be OK.

liz-paul

Hmmm... Good point, thanks!