Life assurance advice

[SundaeSunday100]

I've always had life assurance provided by work but I don't get any perks with my current role. I'm about to take out a mortage and believe I will need life assurance (something I should probably have sorted out earlier!).

I have no idea what sort of cover to get. Any thoughts? I'm single, nearing 50 with one dependent. DS's father is fairly wealthy so I'm not worried about DS being provided especially since he will inherit everything from me. No serious health conditions.

Life assurance isn't a requirement, but i would advise you to get some! You can get decreasing term assurance that goes down with the mortgage balance, or level term which stays the same. Life assurance is relatively cheap (although health, age etc will be factors).

Other considerations that will be more expensive are critical illness and other cover- how does the mortgage get paid if you are diagnosed with Cancer, Motor Neurone Disease, a whole host of other illnesses- how wealthy exactly is your ex- what cover do they have in place?

Assume you have a Will too- again would recommend if you are getting everything else in order you definitely should!

You're more likely to be diagnosed with a critical illness than die during the term of your mortgage (no pre-existing conditions aside).

If you die you say your son will be looked after - but how old is he - could he be looked be provided for sufficiently to finish school/uni, to set him up in a home of his own?

Should you become critically ill (check the exclusions - my policy from 22 years ago covers more than the policy in 2013) how will you pay your bills? Would you be able to maintain your home and standard of living if you were in a serious/life changing accident, or needed cancer treatment.

Friends of mine paid up their mortgage in their 30s after he had testicular cancer, other friends in the same situation had no cover which led to untold worry on top of operations and chemo.