Claiming Life Insurance After a Death¶

A life-insurance payout, where one exists, is often the largest single sum that arrives in the months after a death — and one of the few that can arrive quickly, before grant of probate is issued. Whether it bypasses probate or has to wait for it depends on a single technical question: was the policy written in trust, or paid into the deceased's estate.

This guide covers how to find out whether a policy exists, how to claim it, the difference between a trust policy and an estate policy, what to expect during the contestable period for newer policies, and how the payout interacts with inheritance tax.

If you can only do one thing today: Search the deceased's papers for any life-insurance documentation — policy schedules, premium statements, mortgage paperwork, and employer benefit booklets. Then make two free searches: the ABI's unclaimed-life-assurance lookup at abi.org.uk, and a phone call to the most recent employer's HR team to ask about group life cover. Many people are insured by their employer at 2 to 4 times annual salary without ever holding a personal policy. [source: abi/unclaimed-assets-2026-04-30.html]

Finding out whether there is a policy¶

Life insurance is one of the most commonly forgotten financial products. The policy is taken out, premiums are paid by direct debit, and the policy schedule is filed away and never looked at again. Sometimes the deceased themselves has forgotten about it, especially where it was bought decades earlier alongside a mortgage.

The first sweep is through the deceased's paperwork:

Filing cabinets, deed boxes, and files of important documents for policy schedules and most recent renewal letters from the executor's side.
Mortgage paperwork, which often references a separate mortgage life-insurance policy (sometimes called mortgage protection insurance or decreasing term assurance) sold alongside the mortgage.
Recent bank and credit-card statements, looking for monthly direct debits to insurance providers — Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London, Aegon, Zurich, Vitality, AIG, LV=, Liverpool Victoria, Beagle Street, SunLife, and similar names. Premiums are typically £20 to £100 per month and surface as a recognisable line item against the executor's sweep of statements.
Pension and investment statements, since some workplace pensions include a death-in-service lump sum operating like life cover.
Employer paperwork — contract of employment, benefits booklet, recent payslips referencing a "death-in-service" benefit.

Where the paperwork search is inconclusive, the ABI free unclaimed-life-assurance search at abi.org.uk covers policies held by the major UK insurers; the Unclaimed Assets Register is a paid commercial alternative that searches a wider database. Both return the names of insurers holding a matching record; the executor then contacts each insurer directly to make the claim. [source: abi/unclaimed-assets-2026-04-30.html]

Trust policies versus estate policies¶

Whether a life insurance payout passes through the estate or directly to named beneficiaries is determined by a single question: was the policy written in trust.

A policy written in trust has a separate trust deed, signed at the point the policy was taken out, naming beneficiaries who are to receive the payout on death. The trust is the legal owner of the policy proceeds; the insurer pays the trustees, who pay the named beneficiaries. The payout does not form part of the deceased's estate, does not pass under the will, does not require grant of probate, and does not count towards the nil-rate band for inheritance tax. Trustees can usually claim within days of the death.

A policy not written in trust pays directly into the estate. The proceeds form part of the estate's assets, are subject to the probate process, and count towards inheritance tax. For an estate already close to the nil-rate band, a non-trust life-insurance payout can push the total over the threshold and trigger 40% tax on the excess. The payout still happens; it just takes longer (because the insurer requires evidence of probate before paying) and may produce a tax bill that a trust-written equivalent would have avoided.

The trust status is recorded on the policy schedule. If the schedule cannot be found, the insurer can confirm trust status and the names of any trustees on a phone enquiry from the executor. Where a policy is in trust but the named trustees are unable to act (they are also deceased, or have lost capacity), the insurer's bereavement team can advise on appointing replacement trustees.

How to claim¶

The claim process at every major UK life insurer follows the same shape:

Phone the bereavement team. The number is on the policy schedule and the insurer's website. The first call opens a claim file and produces the claim form and document list.
Submit the claim form with the supporting documents: an original or certified copy of the death certificate, photo identification for the claimant, proof of address for the claimant, the policy schedule (or its number), and (for trust policies) the trust deed. Where the policy is paid into the estate, a grant of probate is required before payment.
Wait for assessment. Straightforward claims complete in 4 to 8 weeks. Trust claims are often faster (within days or 2 to 3 weeks). Claims requiring investigation — usually older policies in the contestable period, or claims where the cause of death triggers a policy exclusion — can run to 12 weeks or longer.
Receive the payout. Trust claims pay into the trustees' nominated account; estate claims pay into the executor's executor-account or directly into the estate's solicitor account.

For each policy, ask the insurer at the first call whether the policy was active at the date of death, whether premiums were paid up to date, what death benefit will be paid, and what documentation the insurer requires. Most send a written confirmation of the entitlement before the claim form is returned, which is useful evidence for the IHT400 return where one is required.

The contestable period¶

Most UK life insurers operate a contestable period of 1 to 2 years from the inception of the policy. During this window the insurer is permitted to investigate the original application and reject the claim if the applicant gave false or materially incomplete information about their health, occupation, or lifestyle.

The most common ground for rejection during the contestable period is non-disclosure of pre-existing health conditions that the applicant either lied about or failed to mention on the application. The insurer reviews the deceased's medical records (the executor's permission is normally requested as part of the claim process) and matches them against the original application. Where a material non-disclosure is established, the policy is voided and the premiums refunded; the death benefit is not paid.

Where a claim is rejected within the contestable period, the executor has a right to a written explanation, an internal review by the insurer's complaints team, and, ultimately, recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service if the rejection is disputed. The Ombudsman is free, independent, and typically resolves cases within 6 to 12 months.

Outside the contestable period (i.e. where the policy has been in force more than 2 years, depending on the insurer), the insurer cannot reject the claim on non-disclosure grounds and must pay against any valid death certificate, subject only to specific named exclusions in the policy schedule.

Specific policy types¶

Whole-of-life and term-life policies are the standard UK retail life-insurance products. They pay a defined sum (the "sum assured") on death. The claim process is as above.

Mortgage life insurance — also called mortgage protection insurance or decreasing term assurance — is sold alongside a residential mortgage. The sum assured matches the outstanding mortgage balance and decreases over the term as the mortgage is paid down. Some mortgage life policies are assigned to the lender, which means the proceeds pay the lender directly to clear the mortgage and only any surplus passes to the estate or trust beneficiaries. Other mortgage life policies are written in trust to the surviving partner; in those cases the survivor receives the cash and decides whether to clear the mortgage or keep paying it.

Group life insurance is provided by an employer as an employee benefit, often at no cost to the employee. The standard sum assured is 2 to 4 times annual salary, payable as a lump sum to the employee's nominated beneficiary on death. Most employer schemes are written in trust by default, so the payout bypasses the estate. A surprising number of working-age people are insured by their employer without holding a personal policy at all; the first call after a working-age death should always be to the employer's HR or benefits team to ask about group life cover.

Endowment policies — common in the 1980s and 1990s, sold alongside interest-only mortgages — are part insurance, part investment, and pay out either at policy maturity or on death, whichever comes first. Older endowment policies still in force often have material death benefit values; the insurer can confirm the current value on enquiry.

Annuities purchased with pension funds are usually not life insurance and do not pay a death benefit on the standard single-life annuity. Joint-life or guaranteed-period annuities pay a continuing income to a survivor or for the remainder of the guarantee period; these are covered in Pensions after a death.

Tax treatment¶

The tax treatment depends on whether the policy is in trust:

Trust policy: payout is outside the deceased's estate. No inheritance tax on the payout itself. The trustees' subsequent distribution to beneficiaries is also free of inheritance tax in most ordinary cases.
Estate policy: payout is part of the estate. It counts towards the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes. Where the total estate exceeds the nil-rate band (currently £325,000) and any residence nil-rate band available, the excess is taxed at 40%. [source: gov-uk/inheritance-tax-2026-04-29.html]

Income tax does not normally apply to a life-insurance death benefit in either case. Capital gains tax does not apply. The only tax in play is inheritance tax on estate-paid policies in larger estates.

The payout itself, once received by a beneficiary, is theirs to use as they wish; there are no follow-on tax implications for the recipient receiving it. Subsequent investment income or capital gains on the money are taxable in the recipient's hands in the normal way.

When a claim takes longer than expected¶

Most claims pay within the timescales above. Where they do not, the usual reasons are:

Documents missing, especially trust deeds for older policies in trust. The insurer cannot pay until trust status is confirmed.
Cause of death investigation, where the insurer is checking whether a named exclusion applies. Suicide is the most common — most policies exclude suicide within the first 1 to 2 years from the inception of the policy; deaths after that are paid in full.
Claims at policy maturity, where an endowment or whole-of-life policy was about to mature on the deceased's birthday and the insurer is calculating which payout (the maturity value or the death benefit) applies.
Disputes between potential beneficiaries, where a will and a nomination conflict, or where the trust deed names beneficiaries who cannot be located.

If a claim is taking more than 12 weeks without clear explanation, the executor should request a written status update with the specific outstanding items, and, if no progress follows, escalate to the insurer's complaints team. After 8 weeks of unresolved complaint, the executor can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Scotland and Northern Ireland¶

UK life insurance operates UK-wide on identical terms. The same insurers, products, trust law (in practice; the underlying law differs slightly between jurisdictions), claim processes, and Financial Ombudsman recourse apply across all four UK nations. Where a grant of probate is required for an estate-paid policy, the Scottish Confirmation or the Northern Irish grant is accepted by UK insurers in place of the English grant.

What this guide doesn't cover¶

This guide is about life insurance specifically. It does not cover other forms of insurance — buildings and contents insurance, motor insurance, travel insurance, private medical insurance — each of which has a separate bereavement-claims process. It does not cover pension death benefits (Pensions after a death covers those) or critical-illness cover taken out by someone who later died of a different cause.

It also does not cover the position of an unmarried partner who is not named as a beneficiary on a non-trust policy. Unmarried partners have no automatic claim against estate proceeds and may need to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; that is specialist legal work.

If you're struggling, you don't have to do this alone. Samaritans (116 123, 24/7) | Cruse Bereavement Care (0808 808 1677) | Mind (0300 123 3393)

Next: Pensions after a death

Last verified: 29 April 2026 against ABI — unclaimed assets and published bereavement guidance from major UK insurers.