A safety net for the people who depend on you.

Life insurance is a policy that pays out a lump sum if you die while the policy is in force. For mortgage-holders, the most common type is decreasing term assurance — the cover amount reduces roughly in line with your outstanding mortgage balance over the same term, so the payout is designed to clear what’s left on a repayment mortgage. Level term assurance pays out a fixed amount regardless of when death occurs, often preferred where the priority is providing for a family rather than specifically clearing debt.

Without it, a mortgage doesn’t disappear if something happens to you — it typically becomes the responsibility of a surviving partner, or is settled from an estate, which can mean a forced sale of the property at the worst possible time. Life insurance exists specifically to prevent that outcome.

Policies can usually be written in trust at no extra cost, which can keep the payout outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes and let it reach beneficiaries faster, without going through probate — worth asking your adviser about specifically.