Insurance for if gran dies

Rambosmum

My brand new husband and I are looking at booking our honeymoon BUT his gran is terminally ill with cancer. Obviously it is really hard to tell how long etc and we don't really want to ask (and she and her husband don't really want to tell us, or other members of the family). We've spoken to husbands mum and dad are who are really in the dark, but we all think its likely in the next couple of months. Obviously we have two options- book for soon and hope or book for later. Unfortunately due to other circumstances 'later' isn't really an option (later would end up being 2016) so we were wondering if there is any insurance which would cover us cancelling our trip in the event that gran takes a turn for the worse and husband feels unable to go or if she passes just before we leave? TIA

notanewuser

It would be counted as a pre-existing condition and wouldn't be covered my the vast majority of insurers.

InsideInsurance

As above, by standard any pre-existing conditions are excluded so if she was run over then that would be covered but the cancer wouldnt be as it predates the insurance policy.

Whilst cover for pre-existing conditions of travelling party members is common the ability to request cover for pre-existing conditions of non-travelling family members is exceptionally rare. Travel isnt my area of particular interest but I can only recall coming across one insurer that allowed it. If you search on the Insurance forum on here you may be able to find the thread where the insurer is mentioned.

You may find it better to book something either without cancellation fees or that allows flexibility.

McKneff

Why not just have a few days away, not too far away soon and then have a proper honeymoon early in the new year.

zagfles

Where are you looking to go? If it's somewhere in Europe you could just book cheap flights and a cancellable hotel - you can easily find hotels at reasonable prices in most places that you can cancel up to the date of arrival. Then you'd just lose the cost of the flights, which might even work out to not much more than the insurance.

You could look at cancellable/postponable flights too but these tend to be a lot more than no-refund fares. This would be more likely to be worth it if you're going long-haul.

gettingtheresometime

With regards pre-existing conditions when does that come into play?

Reason I ask is that a friend of mine is having to claim on her insurance as she had to cancel as her mum died of an illness. One of the questions she was asked on the claim form was had the deceased been diagnosed before the insurance was taken out - which in this case it had been although at the time the illness wasn't terminal.

So should I declare any illnesses my mum has when I take out travel insurance?

getmore4less

You should note all pre-existing conditions if you want cover to cancel.

If the circumstance change before you travel you should notify the insurance company.

You have to give them the chance to mitigate the losses, by saying if you cancel now and lose the deposit we will cover it but if you still want to travel we will not cover bigger loses.

callum9999

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

With regards pre-existing conditions when does that come into play?

Reason I ask is that a friend of mine is having to claim on her insurance as she had to cancel as her mum died of an illness. One of the questions she was asked on the claim form was had the deceased been diagnosed before the insurance was taken out - which in this case it had been although at the time the illness wasn't terminal.

So should I declare any illnesses my mum has when I take out travel insurance?

If it's relevant (i.e. you're covered for abandoning the holiday/returning early due to her becoming ill/dying) then yes.

The issue is that although they didn't know it was terminal at the time, someone being seriously ill obviously increases the chances of them dying. Insurance is just a big probability game, so anything that increases the risk of a claim arising is going to either increase the price of, or invalidate, a premium.

budgetflyer

If you can, book with Avios via BAEC.
Even an Avios+cash ticket is refundable less £25.

roddydogs

Suppose Gran hadnt told anyone about the situation?

HoofeHearted

I checked my Travel Insurance document a few years ago. It had a statement about not being covered if a close relative died and was living in a care home. So always check the small print.