Life insurance for dads

MoneyHelper says life insurance usually makes sense for parents. It suits anyone with dependants, such as school-age children or a partner who relies on their income, but not someone with no dependants. You might also decide against it if your partner earns enough for your family to live on, or if you're on a low income and could qualify for benefits.

There's no special life insurance for dads: you buy the same policies as anyone else. Both parents are responsible for the costs of raising their children, even if they don't see them. You have to make sure your child is supported financially whether or not you have parental responsibility (legal rights and duties for their upbringing).

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) put the cost of raising a child to age 18 in 2025 at £250,000 for a couple and £290,000 for a lone parent.

Insurers such as Legal & General, Nationwide and Octopus Legacy say a payout could help your loved ones pay for:

• the mortgage or rent, and other debts
• monthly household bills and everyday living expenses
• childcare and education costs
• funeral costs

In 2026/27 the higher rate of Bereavement Support Payment is a £3,500 lump sum and up to 18 monthly payments of £350, so £9,800 at most. To get all of it, your partner would need to claim within 3 months of your death.

Your partner would get the higher rate if, when you died, they were getting (or entitled to) Child Benefit for a child living with them, or were pregnant. That's the rule for married, civil and cohabiting partners, unless a cohabiting partner is claiming a backdated payment.

Our family life insurance page covers family cover and Bereavement Support Payment in full. For pregnancy, maternity leave and valuing unpaid care at home, see life insurance for mums, or see life insurance for parents to insure your own father.

How much cover you need depends on your debts, mortgage or rent, income and number of dependants. One approach is to match the term (how long the policy runs) to the years until your children grow up, or to the mortgage if it ends later.

1. Start with your debts Add up the mortgage, loans and credit cards your family would otherwise have to keep paying.
2. Replace your income Count your take-home pay and day-to-day living costs for the years your family would rely on them.
3. Add childcare and one-off costs Include extra childcare so your partner could keep working, plus funeral costs.
4. Take away savings and workplace cover Employee packages often include death in service benefit linked to your salary, but it stops if you leave that employer.
5. Check it fits your budget If cover for everything costs more than you can afford, MoneyHelper suggests setting priorities or choosing a lower level of cover. Some protection may still be better than none.

How long should the term run?

Term life insurance runs for a fixed period, such as five, ten or 25 years, and pays out only if you die during that term. At Santander, for example, cover ends when the term finishes and you don't get back the premiums you've paid.

Insurers set a latest age for the term to end: before your 90th birthday at LV=, and 90 on Guardian's Life Protection. Whole of life cover lasts your whole life and pays out whenever you die, as long as you keep paying the premiums.

A lump sum or a monthly income?

Family income benefit is a term policy that pays regular payments instead of a lump sum. In a Zurich example, a policy paying £1,000 a month with 8 years and 2 months left on the term pays £98,000 in total.

Zurich says its Family Income Cover isn't suitable for a one-off payment such as a mortgage. LV='s Family Income Benefit has a 'Pay My Mortgage' facility instead. Depending on their circumstances when they claim, your beneficiaries (the people who get the money) can have some or all of the monthly income paid straight to the mortgage lender.

• Life insurance calculator: add up debts, income and childcare
• Family income benefit calculator: work out the total payout over your term
• Term life insurance: level and decreasing cover for a set period

Your monthly payment depends on your age, health, lifestyle, smoking status, family medical history, occupation and the policy length. MoneyHelper says premiums vary, so it's worth shopping around and comparing quotes.

As you get older or develop medical problems, MoneyHelper says you might find it cheaper to stick with a policy you bought when you were younger. The type of policy you choose matters too.

Decreasing term vs level term

With level term, the cover stays the same throughout, and premiums are fixed unless the policy is reviewable (which tends to cost less at the start). With decreasing term, the cover falls each year. It's designed for a repayment mortgage, where the loan also falls.

The ABI and Nationwide both say decreasing term usually costs less than level term. With guaranteed premiums, your monthly payment on a decreasing policy stays the same even as the cover falls.

Joint, single or dual life cover

A joint policy is usually cheaper than two single policies, but it pays out only once, on the first death. After that payout, the policy ends and the surviving parent needs a new policy to stay covered.

Guardian doesn't offer joint policies and uses dual life instead. The Exeter lets couples apply together but hold separate policies, each with its own sum assured (the amount paid out).

Under a joint policy, the payout goes to the surviving policyholder unless you've made other arrangements. A single policy pays into your estate (the money and property you leave), so you need to decide who receives it.

If your partner stays at home or works part time, think about cover on their life too. The care they give would still be needed, and life insurance for mums looks at how to value it.

• Joint or single life insurance: one policy for two or a policy each
• Level term or decreasing cover?

Yes. A life insurance payout can help your family pay the mortgage, monthly household bills and childcare costs.

The mortgage

You don't legally need life insurance for a mortgage, though some lenders may make it a condition of lending. MoneyHelper says you might choose it so your dependants can keep your home if you die.

On a decreasing policy for a repayment mortgage, Legal & General and Nationwide both say to check that the interest rate applied to the policy is at least the rate on your mortgage.

Santander, whose cover Aviva provides, says level cover is commonly used for an interest-only mortgage, where the full amount borrowed is still owed at the end of the term. Legal & General says the policy is separate from the mortgage and pays a valid claim during the term, whether or not you still have the mortgage.

Childcare and everyday bills

If you pass away, your partner might need extra childcare to keep working. These are average weekly prices for part-time and after-school care from the Coram Childcare Survey 2026:

• Without funded hours
• With the 30 funded hours

£0

£100

£200

£300

£400

£372.06

£148.82

£351.81

£140.72

£331.79

£132.72

Under two Two-year-olds Three- and four-year-olds

Weekly price of a 50-hour nursery place in England, by age of child

	Without funded hours	With the 30 funded hours
Under two	£372.06	£148.82
Two-year-olds	£351.81	£140.72
Three- and four-year-olds	£331.79	£132.72

Averages from the Coram Childcare Survey 2026, England. The funded hours are for eligible working parents. Local prices differ.

Coram says part-time (25-hour) childcare in England is now, in theory, free during term time for eligible working parents. With Tax-Free Childcare, the government adds £2 for every £8 you pay in. That's up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each child, or £1,000 every 3 months (£4,000 a year) for a disabled child.

To get it, you usually need to be working, and your child must be 11 or younger (16 or younger if disabled). For everyday bills, Child Benefit in the 2026 to 2027 tax year is £27.05 a week for your eldest or only child and £17.90 for each other child.

What if illness or injury stops you working?

Life insurance pays out only when you die, not when illness or disability stops you earning. Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a condition listed in your policy, and then ends.

All critical illness policies must cover cancer, heart attack and stroke to at least the ABI's standard model wordings. In 2025, individual critical illness claims totalled £1.25 billion. Cancer made up 65% of them, and the average payout was £67,000.

Income protection replaces part of your income, typically 50% to 65%, if illness or an accident stops you working. There's often a waiting (deferred) period first, most commonly 4, 13 or 26 weeks or a year, and a longer wait means lower premiums. You can apply if you work full time, part time or for yourself.

Eligible employees get Statutory Sick Pay of £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for up to 28 weeks. Self-employed workers don't get Statutory Sick Pay, though they may be able to apply for Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.

• Mortgage life insurance: cover matched to your home loan
• Mortgage life insurance calculator
• Critical illness cover: a lump sum if you're diagnosed with a covered condition
• Waiver of premium: when an insurer pays your premiums for you

The ABI suggests thinking about life insurance when you have children, and GOV.UK says to review your will after having a child. If you already hold a policy, it may let you add cover after a birth or adoption without giving further medical information:

Aviva also has Free Parent Life Cover: each parent could get £15,000 of free life cover for each child under four, for 12 months. It's for permanent UK residents aged 18 to 66. Because it lasts a year, it can't replace cover that runs until your children grow up.

Paternity leave and children's critical illness cover

If you qualify, you can take up to 2 weeks' Paternity Leave (Northern Ireland has different rules). Statutory Paternity Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. A company paternity scheme can pay more, but not less.

Guardian's Life Protection includes Premium Waiver as standard. If you take maternity or paternity leave after the first policy anniversary, it waives your premiums (your regular payments) for 6 months.

Legal & General's Income Protection Benefit pays your chosen monthly benefit if you become incapacitated (unable to work) during statutory paternity leave. It's based on your income before the leave, as long as you were employed or self-employed just before it.

With critical illness cover, Aviva and Legal & General both include children's cover. It pays the lower of 50% of your cover amount or £25,000, for children from 30 days old to 18 (or 21 in full-time education). Legal & General also pays up to £1,000 towards a registered childminder after a critical illness claim if you have a child under 5. There's more in life insurance for children.

A trust, an up-to-date will and parental responsibility decide who gets your payout and who cares for your children.

Why write the policy in trust?

With a trust, the value of your policy isn't treated as part of your estate, and it can be paid outside probate and Inheritance Tax. Probate (the legal process of dealing with an estate) can take months, so your loved ones could get the money much more quickly.

If you don't name a beneficiary, the insurer pays the proceeds into your estate. It could then take a long time to reach the person you want, and could be subject to Inheritance Tax. There's normally no Inheritance Tax if the estate is below the £325,000 threshold. Above it, the standard rate is 40%, charged only on the part over the threshold.

The trustees (the people who manage the money) make any claim and look after the payout for your beneficiaries. MoneyHelper suggests having at least two. A trust deed (the document setting up the trust) can say when your children get the money. In a bare trust, the beneficiary has the right to all of it at 18 in England and Wales, or 16 in Scotland.

Unmarried dads and step-dads

In England, unmarried partners who haven't registered a civil partnership can't inherit from each other unless there's a will. Legal & General says a surviving cohabiting partner (one you live with but aren't married to) has no legal claim on a policy that isn't written in trust.

Under the intestacy rules in England (who inherits when there's no will), step-children who weren't adopted can't inherit. If you want them to benefit, name them in your will or as beneficiaries of a trust. In England and Wales, step-parents don't get parental responsibility automatically, even if they're married to the child's parent, but they can apply for it.

Wills, parental responsibility and guardians

In England and Wales, GOV.UK says your will should set out who would look after children under 18. If you die without a will, the law decides who gets what. Getting married cancels any will you made before.

In England, you need at least 2 executors (the people who carry out your will) if any beneficiary is under 18 or the will includes a trust. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules for making a will.

In England and Wales, you usually have parental responsibility automatically if you're married to, or in a civil partnership with, the birth mother when your child is born. As the biological father, you also get it if you marry her or form a civil partnership with her later. If you aren't married, you can get it by jointly registering the birth with her, or by applying for it.

In England and Wales, a guardian appointment must be in writing, dated and signed. If a surviving parent has parental responsibility, the appointment usually takes effect only once the child no longer has a parent with parental responsibility.

In Scotland the rules are different, and not all fathers have parental responsibilities and rights. As a biological father, you have them if you were married to, or in a civil partnership with, the birth mother when your child was conceived, or you married her or formed a civil partnership with her later. Jointly registering the birth with her after 4 May 2006 also gives you them.

You can also get them by signing and registering an agreement with the mother, or by applying to a court (the mother doesn't need to consent). Without them, mygov.scot says you have no legal right to make choices about what's best for your child.

Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, a Scottish guardian appointment must be in writing and signed, and doesn't take effect until accepted. It has no effect unless, at the time of death, the parent was entitled to act as the child's legal representative, which is one of the parental rights.

• Life insurance in trust: how a trust works and who it suits
• Life insurance beneficiary rules
• Is life insurance taxable?

Life cover can pay for your children's living costs if someone else ends up caring for them, or protect child maintenance payments. In 2025, 15.4% of UK lone parents were lone fathers, the ONS says, and 51.2% of lone-father families had dependent children.

If your children live with you

Gingerbread reports that 36% of single-parent families with dependent children have no savings, compared with 17% of couple families. MoneyHelper says life insurance could pay whoever ends up caring for your children money for their living costs, or pay a lump sum to your children when they turn 18.

In England and Wales, a guardian you appoint usually has to wait while the other parent still has parental responsibility. The Children Act 1989 makes an exception for a child arrangements order (an order about who a child lives with, spends time with or otherwise has contact with).

If an order like that was in force just before your death, naming you as someone your child was to live with, your appointment takes effect when you die. That doesn't apply if the order also named the surviving parent as someone the child was to live with.

If you pay child maintenance

You must have a child maintenance arrangement if your child is under 16, or under 20 in approved education or training. Payments end when your child leaves education or training or turns 20, whichever happens first. They also stop if your child starts an advanced course, such as a university degree.

MoneyHelper says either you or your ex-partner could take out a policy that pays a lump sum, or one that pays an income for a set time, such as until the maintenance payments were due to end.

Can you split a joint policy?

You can't divide a life insurance policy when you separate: one of you has to take it over or cancel it. Some insurers do let you split a joint policy into two single policies, with time limits and conditions:

If you weren't married or in a civil partnership, check which events your policy lists. Aviva's and The Exeter's options cover separation, and LV='s covers legal separation. Legal & General's needs a divorce, a dissolution or a mortgage moved into one name, and Vitality's needs a divorce or dissolution as well as a mortgage change.

Start with the cover you already have, then look at the policy's options and how the money would reach your children.

1. Check your workplace cover first Employee packages often include death in service benefit linked to your salary, though it ends if you leave that employer.
2. Match the policy type to your debts and budget Decreasing term is designed for a repayment mortgage and usually costs less than level term. A joint policy is usually cheaper than two single policies, but it pays out only once.
3. Check the options for a new baby or separation Insurers set different time limits, age caps and conditions for increasing cover after a birth or splitting a joint policy if you separate.
4. Put a trust, will and guardian in place Writing the policy in trust means the payout can be paid outside probate and Inheritance Tax. Your will can say who should look after children under 18. Tell your trustees and your children's guardian that the policy exists and where the documents are.
5. Answer every question accurately and don't cancel early Insurers check your medical history when you claim, and leaving something out can mean they don't pay out. If you switch policies, don't cancel your existing cover until the replacement is set up and you've made the first monthly payment.