Life insurance frequently asked questions

If you have a Life Insurance Plan with decreasing cover, the cover amount decreases over time, broadly in line with the repayment mortgage or long-term loan that you’re repaying. Your premiums stay the same during the term of the policy, unless you make changes to the cover. Decreasing cover usually costs less than level cover. 

The policy will pay out if you die, or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, that meets our definition and aren't expected to live longer than 12 months, during the policy term. The policy only pays out once and has no cash in value at any time.

If you have a life insurance policy with increasing cover, the level of cover, and your monthly payments, may increase over time to help protect your cover amount from the effects of inflation.

With our Life Insurance Plan with increasing cover, the level of cover increases annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a recognised measure of inflation, and your premiums will also increase annually to reflect this. The maximum amount your cover can increase by is 10%, and your premiums could increase by a maximum of 15%¹. If you choose not to accept the increase, or if the CPI doesn't increase, your cover and premiums will stay the same.

The policy pays out a lump sum if, during the policy terms, you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, that meets our definition, and aren't expected to live longer than 12 months. The policy will only pay out once, so if you make a successful terminal illness claim, a second claim can't be made. There's no cash value at any time.

It's totally up to you - people usually get life insurance with us when they reach a certain age, or a certain life event.

You can find out what you're covered for in the policy conditions that you received when you first took out the policy. If your policy is available in MyAviva, you can log in or register and check your cover details there.

If you're not sure please contact us

Yes. You need to be aged between 18 and 77 to take out a Life Insurance Plan with us. You can take out a policy to cover you for any duration from one to 50 years, but your age when the policy expires must be younger than 91.

This depends on your age, the cover amount and the information you gave us about your health on your application. 

Most people who apply for our cover don’t need a medical. However, if you're applying for a large amount of cover, we might ask you to have a medical with either a nurse or a doctor.

We look at everyone’s application individually. If you're asked to have a medical, it’s so we can learn more while we assess your application. It doesn’t automatically mean your application won’t be accepted.

Yes, our Life Insurance Plan includes terminal illness benefit. This means we’ll pay out if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets our policy definition within the policy term and aren't expected to live longer than 12 months. If your doctor thinks you might live longer, or there's treatment that could extend your life, we won't pay out. Once we pay a terminal illness benefit, the life insurance policy ends, and we won’t pay out when you die. There’s no cash value at any time.

It’s a benefit that pays out an agreed sum of money if you have an illness or injury that means you’re permanently incapacitated.

We define total permanent disability by how it impacts your work and daily life. Whether you qualify for a payout depends on the disability, and if it’s included in your policy. Check your policy details or call 0800 015 1142.

For our joint protection, telephone calls may be recorded and/or monitored.

Yes, you can. If your combined cover is for a high amount, we might need to do a more in-depth financial assessment to make sure we're insuring you for the right amount.

The main difference is that life insurance is a term policy, so it covers you for a specific amount of time, while over 50 life insurance is a whole of life policy, so it covers you for the rest of your life.

To take out our Over 50 Life Insurance you need to be aged between 50 and 80. Your premiums are fixed for life, and you won’t need a medical or health check. You can choose a cover amount to help pay for a funeral, or it can be used for other costs, or to leave a gift to your partner or family. Once you’ve had your policy for 30 years, or from the soonest policy anniversary after your 90th birthday, you’ll no longer pay anything, but your cover will continue. It can’t be taken out as a joint policy.

With our Life Insurance Plan, you need to be aged between 18 and 77 to apply, and your cover stops at the end of the policy term. You choose a cover amount, and if you want your cover to remain the same, be protected from the effects of inflation, or decrease over time broadly in line with a repayment mortgage or loan. You can take out a single or joint life insurance policy.

If you’re not sure which one might be right for you, speak to a financial adviser. 

Aviva Digicare+ is an app included with our life insurance and over 50 life insurance policies.

• Annual health checks
• Access to a 24-hour BUPA helpline
• Mental health consultations
• Bereavement support
• Nutritional support
• Second opinion service

Please be aware these services aren’t part of your cover and could change or be removed at any time. Find out more about all these Aviva DigiCare+ services.

You can pay your premiums monthly by Direct Debit.

If you choose level or decreasing cover, your monthly payments are guaranteed to stay the same for the duration of your policy. For decreasing life insurance, premiums are set at the start of the policy to consider the decreasing amount of cover you'll need during the policy term. Premiums for decreasing cover are often cheaper than other types of life insurance.

With level cover, if you choose to help protect your payments from the effects of inflation, so the lump sum won’t be worth less in the future, your monthly payments may rise. The maximum annual increase would be 15% to your premiums and 10% to your cover¹.

If you’re feeling any financial pressure, we're here to support you and find a solution. You can explore options like reducing your monthly payments by adjusting your coverage or the duration of protection which could make things more manageable. We also offer a cost of living support scheme. This plan allows you to lower your payments for now, with the freedom to increase them again in 12-24 months when you’re back on track. 

If you don't pay your premiums, your policy will automatically end. There isn't a cash-in value.

When you’ve been incapacitated for either one, three or six months (the deferred period).

Your policy booklet will explain what your deferred period is. Make sure you continue to pay the premium until you’ve contacted us and we’ve accepted the claim.

Yes. You have a 30-day cooling-off period from your policy start date, or from when you get your policy documents (whichever is later), to change your mind. If you want to cancel within this time, we'll refund any premiums you've paid. Remember, there’s no cash value and, if you cancel your policy, you won't be able to make a claim.

If you want to cancel the policy after the cooling-off period ends, your premiums won’t be refunded. If you're thinking about cancelling your policy, please contact us, or write to Aviva Life, Norwich BCC, PO Box 520, Norwich, NR1 3WG.

No. Our Life Insurance Plan has no cash value at any time.

You have a 30-day cooling off period from your policy start date, or from when you get your policy documents (whichever is later), to change your mind. If you want to cancel within this time, we'll refund any premiums you've paid. If you want to cancel the policy after the cooling-off period ends, your premiums won’t be refunded. If you cancel your policy, you won't be able to make a claim.

If your name has changed, please contact us. Dependent upon the circumstances, we may need to see evidence of the change in the form of an original or certified legal document.

If you've moved house, please contact us or write to Aviva Life, Norwich BCC, PO Box 520, Norwich, NR1 3WG. 

We can update your Direct Debit details over the phone. Please have your new details handy and and please contact us . Your new Direct Debit will be active within 14 days.

In most cases, yes, you can keep your cover in place - as long as you continue to pay your premium from a UK-based bank account. But there might be times we can't continue to cover you as moving abroad may affect the ability to continue to benefit fully from the features of the policy, and we may need to change, reduce or remove any policy terms. If you're unsure which cover is right for you, talk to a financial adviser.

If you're thinking about living abroad and you'd like to see that effect this'll have on your cover, call the team on 0800 285 1098. For our joint protection, telephone calls may be recorded and /or monitored.

It varies, but once we’ve discussed the claim, we can usually estimate timescales. Once we've agreed to pay the claim and have everything we need, we’ll aim to pay out within five working days.

If you'd like to help make a future claim faster, you could consider placing your policy in a Trust. You can then decide who gets the payment if you die, so executors won’t need to be involved in the process

Yes. You could put your life insurance policy in a trust and name who you'd like to receive the money, if a claim is successful. If the policy is in an Aviva Trust, we can pay out faster (provided there’s at least one available trustee) when we accept a claim, as we don't need to wait for people to be appointed to deal with your estate.

Payments may not be counted as part of your estate, so may not be liable for Inheritance Tax. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances, and bear in mind that tax laws may change in the future. Setting up a trust has legal and financial implications, so you should talk to a financial adviser or tax specialist, which you can find at www.unbiased.co.uk.

You could include instructions about who receives any proceeds from your policy when you make a will, but this may not provide the same protection against Inheritance Tax.

If a loved one held a life insurance policy with us and has died, find out how to let us know and how to start a claim. We’ll guide you through the claims process step-by-step and you can ask us any questions you have along the way.

Plus, to help you work out what other practical tasks you need to think about, we’ve pulled together a helping you through bereavement guide.

Yes. We need to see the original death certificate and can’t accept a copy. We may also need to see original copies of the document proving your legal entitlement to deal with the estate (eg grant of representation). We'll return these to you as soon as we can. See our claims process.

You may get an interim death certificate if the death gets referred to a coroner and an inquest is opened. We can accept this, but we'll usually need to ask the coroner to give us some more information before we can start to assess the claim. You may need to wait until the inquest is complete before we can assess the death claim.

If your life insurance policy is in a Trust, any life cover payout should go to the people you choose, and they’ll be paid quicker than if your policy wasn’t in a trust. It could also help protect the payout from Inheritance Tax.

If you’re considering a trust, talk to a financial adviser. Bear in mind that tax rules may change in the future. You can find an advisor at unbiased.co.uk.

You can apply for a grant of representation yourself or pay a solicitor or probate specialist to do it for you. In Scotland, you’ll need a certificate of confirmation, which you can apply for at the local Sheriff Court.

If you receive a life insurance payout, you won't need to pay capital gains tax, or income tax - but you might need to pay inheritance tax, unless the money is placed in a trust.

No. There's no cash value at any time. At the end of your life insurance policy term you stop making payments and your cover ends.

It depends on the type of life insurance cover you have.

If you have critical illness cover that’s independent of your life insurance, your life cover will continue for both of you if you carry on paying your premiums. If your partner also has critical illness cover, this will also continue, regardless of your claim.

If you have integrated critical illness and life insurance cover, life cover will end for both of you as soon as your claim’s been paid – unless we pay out for children’s benefit or additional critical illness cover, in which case, your cover will continue.

Check your policy documents or contact us if you’re not sure about what your policy covers.

Currently we allow cover to continue where a customer relocates temporarily or permanently to a different country within the EU/EEA during the term of their policy. However, there may be some restrictions on changing your existing policies.

In all EU territories, there’ll be restrictions on increasing the level and length of your cover. In addition, you won’t be able to renew policies or receive any further cover.

In addition, customers resident in France will not be able to change their level of cover or premiums paid at all.  For customers with reviewable premiums this may mean that cover needs to be cancelled. We’ll write to you if this impacts you.

You should take independent financial advice if you’re unsure about what to do.

If you have an Aviva and Aviva plus or an online policy, you can get in touch with us using a qualified BSL interpreter for free as part of our partnership with online video interpreting service SignLive.

You can contact us using this service if you need to talk about setting up a new policy, making a claim or have a customer service query.

If this service does not meet your needs, there are further ways to contact us, including using one of our online forms or LiveChat. You can also deal with your query your self by logging in to MyAviva. For all the ways to get in touch with use, see our contact us page.