How many life assurance policies?

Sanctuary666

Hi
I am due to have a surgical op and this has prompted me to review my life assurance (currently with Legal & General, via Sainsbury's Bank), which was taken out during 2007.

From what I understand from looking at forum posts, I do not need to inform my existing assurance provider about any changes to my health, as they were correct at the time of taking out that policy.

Could anyone advise re the following:

Firstly, is is it legal for me to have more than one life assurance policy? Secondly, if it is, I would obviously need to inform that company of any existing health conditions. However, would doing that, in some way, impact on my existing policy with L&G?

Hopefully, the above makes sense! I just want to leave my partner in the best possible financial position.

Any advice very gratefully received.

kingstreet

You can have as many policies as you like, but as each one has a separate policy fee, you may find it more cost effective to have fewer.

Once a plan has been underwritten and cover commenced, your obligation to disclose any changes in heath ends. You only have to disclose past and current medical issues at the time of application and until the policy is "issued."

dunstonh

Firstly, is is it legal for me to have more than one life assurance policy?

Yes. Indeed, it is normal for most people to have multiple plans as they have multiple needs that cannot be met correctly with just one plan. e.g. mortgage protection, family protection, pension/income supplement etc All these will have different periods requiring cover and having a single plan for all would not be cost effective. (this is why multi-segment plans are common nowadays as they allow for multiple levels of cover and different periods but all on a single plan and just one policy fee)

Secondly, if it is, I would obviously need to inform that company of any existing health conditions. However, would doing that, in some way, impact on my existing policy with L&G?

No impact on existing unless you are using a guaranteed insurability option to get the existing plan increased.

RickyC_IFSWP

I would add that insurers typically have a financial limit/threshold for the total life cover you have. If it is exceeded, they will usual require more thorough medical checks. Also, you may want to ensure that your partner is the owner of the life assurance policy to speed up payments if you did unfortunately pass away. Other than that, there's not much else that I can think of if you're disclosing everything so don't worry.