DH is quite a bit older than me and I would earn more full time than him (currently PT) and we have worked out that if he were to die even before he reaches 65, we would get his fairly decent pension from his previous job, which would be about what we'd have got had he just retired. Childcare wise if he died I'd have to work full time and get a nanny but with his pension and my full time earnings that would be affordable. So we have decided that (especially since he has a medical condition) there is little point in getting it for him.
However I am in my 40s so have quite a bit of earning potential left, I was planning to start back full time at least when he retires (both DCs will still be in primary school then) and if I died before he did then my pension wouldn't be as much and certainly not as much as my earning potential over the next few years. He'd still need a nanny and possibly to move house with the DCs and I don't imagine he'd want to keep working for an extra 5 years though maybe a little bit longer than he'd been planning, but then of course even more childcare would be needed.
I think what we want is something that decreases till I'm of retirement age, to partially compensate for my loss of earnings? Or till both children leave school (not quite the same point in time though my brain can't quite work out what the difference is at the moment)? Or till they don't need childcare any more (i.e. till the younger one is about 12)?
How do I decide what I need, and how do we shop around? I really don't know where to go and of course there are lots of ever so helpful ads. Are the comparison sites any good?