Life Insurance or a Will ???

Reilly01 wrote: »

’m looking for advice on what sort of policy I should get. I’ve been with my long-time partner for 10 years, however we are not married.

My partner and I have a joint mortgage, and I have a small nest egg of savings in my bank account.

Recently a friend of mine passed and I’ve had to watch his partner (again not married) struggle with their mortgage repayments.

This had me think about my own situation, as to what would happen with my half of the mortgage/savings if anything was to happen to me.

I have a daughter from a previous relationship and my fear is that if I pass my partner will be left with nothing.

Of course I would want to make sure my daughter is looked after, but I hate to think my partner being left with nothing just because my daughter is my next of kin.

I'm looking into either getting a Will or Life Insurance, can you please advise what is best to ensure my partner is okay if anything was to happen to me.

Kind regards,
Reilly.

Both.

It's always sensible to have a will, and as you have both a child, and a partnerto whom you are not married, it's especially importnat for you.

You need to think about:
- Who would you want to deal with sorting out your affairs when you die?
- Who do you want to look after any finacial assets for your daughter until she is an adult?
- Are there any personal items youwant to giveto your duaghter (or anyone else)?
- What arrangmetns do you want to make for your partner?


If you own your house jointly with your partner, then you need to look at whether you own as joint tenaqnts or tenants in common, as this will affect what happens when you die. If you own as joint tenants, your partner gets the house if you die, and you can't leave any part of it to your daughter, so you might wnat to ensure that you have life insurance to provide a lump sum for her.

If you own as tenants in common then your half of the hounse can be left by will - you might want to provide for your partner to be allowed to continue to occupy for a certain legth of time following your death, before the hosue was sold and your share of the sale proceeds paid to your daughter, or your partner, or both.

You should talk to your partner about whether you both need life insurance to cover the mortgage if one of you dies, and also to then consioder whether you want to take out a further policy to provide something for your daughter.

If you have apension, also think about what provisions you have made for the death benefits (if any)

The answer is simple you need both and so does you partner.

So many people in your position fail to make wills and adequate provision for their surviving partner, and frankly it is irresponsible not to do those things, but at least you are now seriously thinking about it.

Covering the mortgage with term life insurance is not expensive, not having will is likely to be very costly for the survivor so a few hundred spent on that now is worth it.

Just to say as well for all those reading. It doesn't go to your daughter because she is your next of kin. It goes to your daughter due to intestacy rules.

Even if you made your partner your next of kin it would still go to your daughter.