Want to cancel life insurance policy

[Elffairy]

What are your thoughts on canceling a life insurance policy. I’m a single parent paying £70 a month for life insurance and £10 a month for income protection.
I want to cancel the life insurance policy because if I die then my children would live full time with their dad at his house, and my house would then be of no use and would be sold.
So I don’t see the point in paying for life insurance, does that make sense and seem reasonable to cancel?
I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything?

That's a huge amount for life insurance. Mines £9 per month. I pay mine as although I have a house and pension, I wanted to be able to leave a lump of a couple of hundred K if needed.

Do you have a will set up, that states how funds will get to your children?

That does seem a high premium.

If you did die, and your children stayed with your ex, would he be able to pay for their upkeep without this insurance? Send them to Uni or whatever ? Is there equity in your home to do that?

How old are the children? If you can, maybe keep it until they have left school, then cancel.

No will, that’s my next priority. It is really high and I really could do with that monthly extra saving.

I’m confident that he could as he is quite well off. Yes I have equity in my house thankfully. They are young, both in infant classes in primary school.

I think you do need to talk it through with your ex. If you died, would they have to give up work? Are they livng with someone else, as this would affect what they have to pay towards university?

Also I would look around for a cheaper premium. Though your income protection premium is good, mines £50.

£70 pm is way too high, unless it is for a huge amount or you have some other unusual circumstances?

Would the children's father be able to house and look after them adequately without any financial contribution from you? If so, I can see your logic. If he would struggle to care for them adequately financially, I would want to ensure that they were not disadvantaged financially by the loss of their mother.

Let's not forget as well that the majority of these policies never pay out, we are preparing for unlikely to arise scenarios here.

Mine and my husbands insurance combined is only £32 p/m and I have had a stage 1a cancer so that does seem very high.
do you work and pay into a pension? my family would get 5x my salary if I died with the pension I am in.

I pay £9 per month but not attached to a mortgage.
Our joint life insurance is £35 attached to mortgage

That is a high premium, I would look for less and then I would safeguard it into trust for your children if your ex won’t need it to raise them. I know someone who was in this position and unfortunately it was the age old, dad met someone else, has other children (I know slightly different to your situation) and friend ended up moving out as a teenager and dad refused to help with a car, uni etc etc because new woman didn’t think they should pay. Thankfully, another family member had safesguarded mums life insurance and so friend was able to claim it in her early twenties and but a house etc. making life much easier for her.

My life insurance is is £23 a month, once dd turns 21yo I'm going to cancel it I think as if I die she'll get the equity in the house.

Thanks so much all! This has been so helpful and you’ve mentioned things that I hadn’t thought of 😊
I will definitely make sure I set up my will have any funds out in trust for my children. At the moment there is almost 80k in house equity, so that should leave them with a decent amount each.
Also, thanks for reminding me to check what they would receive from my private and work pension.

Hi OP, I feel exactly the same as their dad is wealthy and if I die he can support them no problem. But I do pay £40 a month for income protection as if I got unwell I would need it otherwise I would lose my house . I want to keep a roof over my head and the kids if too unwell to work. The man who organised it for me took a while to convince that I just didn’t need life insurance but he got there in the end.

Are you sure you don’t have critical illness cover bundled in that premium? Unless you have fairly serious health issues or are much older than primary age children suggests you could shop around for alternative quotes.

If the kids/your ex would have the money from the house etc should you die, all debts paid and whatever then yes, you can probably do without the life insurance.

do you work? Have you thought about what would happen should you have an injury or illness that means you need care, assistance, can’t work? In many ways that is more important then the life insurance.

If you have a mortgage you will have to check the mortgage conditions, I know part of ours is to have life insurance.

I think if you god forbid died whilst your kids were little you would want to leave them money for when they were older but also leave money to your ex to help
raise them. I would look for a cheaper policy though

T he an ok a fit asking that. I may have added that into the cover. I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing when I got the policy, but now time has passed I’m questioning the need for it.

Thanks for reminding me, I will double check that with my mortgage company.

I do work and have income protection, but I need to look at it all again to make sure it’s enough. Thanks for mentioning that!

That’s quite high, mine is £6/month. I thought of cancelling it but it’s such a minimal amount. My DD also has an inheritance so she’d be okay if something happened.

Life insurance premium depends on your age, and obviously sum insured. Mine was £60/month, for £500,000. It ended when I reached 55. As with any insurances, you would not wish to be in a position to make a claim, but I really think insurance policies in UK are terrible. I wanted to make sure that my husband does not have to work to look after the children.

Please please do not cancel without speaking to someone who can advise you. I would be more than happy to help and guide you. With most policies you can amend them if they no longer suit your needs and as budget is important at the moment I can see why you are looking at cancelling. It does seem a high premium so I imagine you have critical illness included in that.