Cancel your life insurance policy
If you’re thinking of cancelling it’s worth knowing it’s not the only option, we have a range of alternatives available to help you stay protected. These include options to reduce your sum assured or the term of your policy or even remove optional benefits to help reduce your out-goings.
Before you make a decision, take a look at the range of information available on our thinking of leaving us or affordability and cost of living pages to make sure it’s the right choice for you.
Did you purchase your policy through a financial adviser?
If you purchased your policy originally through a financial adviser we’d recommend you speak to them first before cancelling. This is especially important if you still have people who depend on you financially or you want to be able to leave something behind if the worst happens. Speaking to a financial adviser ensures they can provide help and guidance to ensure you’re making the right decision for you, in receipt of all the facts.
If you no longer have your advisers’ contact details and need us to reconnect you, just email us at life.service@uk.zurich.com with your policy number and we’ll be happy to help.
Who needs to agree to cancelling a policy?
It can sometimes be confusing when it comes to the different relationships on a policy and who has a say in what changes you can and can’t make and why. We’ve noted below some of the key ‘need to knows’ when it comes to cancelling your policy.
It’s not exhaustive but it’s designed to give you an understanding of what we need, from whom and why, before you get started.
It’s important to read this before completing our online form.
Life assured
The life assured, sometimes also known as the ‘insured’ is the person who’s life is covered on the policy.
Life insurance policies can be purchased on a single or joint life basis. Where a policy is purchased on a single life basis this means there is just one life assured covered under a policy.
Joint life policies mean two lives assured (for example a couple) are covered under a single policy.
Joint life
With joint life policies both lives assured are normally the policyholders. This means they are both ‘policy owners’ because both have a legal interest in the policy, irrespective of who pays the premiums.
This is especially important when it comes to administration as it means we’ll need consent from both policyholders to make changes, including cancellation.
We can’t cancel a joint life policy on the instruction of just one policyholder – we need both policyholders to agree to this, and the agreement from the second policyholder must be received within 30 calendar days (of the initial cancellation instruction being received from the first policyholder) to enable us to proceed with cancelling the policy.
Trustees
When a policy is placed in trust, the trustees become the policyholders and so the legal ‘owners’ of the policy. This means that they will have a say in most aspects of the day-to-day administration of the policy, including any decision to cancel.
Where a policy is held in trust, we will need the agreement of all trustees in order to complete the policy cancellation. Legally, we must receive this agreement before we can cancel the policy, and the agreement from all trustees must be received within 30 calendar days (of the initial cancellation instruction being received) to enable us to proceed with cancelling the policy.
Made up your mind?
If you've made up your mind and want to proceed, you can notify us of your request to cancel using our cancellation form.