Life cover is a funding tool for people who depend on you, for a debt, or sometimes for a business. It is not an estate plan. After a move, the open questions are practical: will the insurer still cover you, who is named to receive the money, in which currency, and who is allowed to change those answers.
Continuation is a question, not a feature
Ask the insurer whether residents of the new country can keep the policy, whether you must notify them, and whether the premium or the terms change. A new policy, if you need one, will be underwritten on the facts at the time, including age and health. This page does not predict the outcome. It does say that an application is not cover.
Who receives it, and who owns it
A nomination can disagree with a will. A minor may not be able to receive money directly. Ownership — you, joint, a trust, a company — changes control and can change tax. Do not ‘tidy’ ownership because you are moving. That is legal and tax advice, on the deed and the policy. Employer death-in-service is a different contract and can end when employment ends, including at the end of notice if that is what the scheme says.
Currency and the gap
A sum assured in one currency and a family spending in another drift apart as rates move. Ask which currency the benefit is paid in. If you replace the policy, ask whether exclusions differ and whether any benefit has a waiting period. Where a policy uses one, the length is in that contract. Between cancellation and the start of a replacement there can be no cover at all.
Ask whether the policy still means what you bought
Life cover is a contract about a sum paid if you die, sometimes with other benefits attached. A move can matter because of a territorial condition, a change in how you are taxed, a change in who should receive the money, or a change in the premium the insurer will charge. Ask the insurer, in writing, what a move to the specific country does to this policy. Ask whether you must tell them, and what happens if you do not. Some contracts are unbothered. Some are not. The schedule is the authority.
Look at the beneficiary. A nomination that names a former partner, or that names ‘my estate’ without anyone having thought about which country’s estate, is worth a review. Changing it may be straightforward, and it may interact with a will and with local inheritance rules. That interaction is legal advice. The existence of an old form is a fact you can check this week.
Price a replacement before you cancel
If the insurer will not continue the cover, ask what a new policy would require, including medical questions, and do not cancel the old one until the new one has started. Underwriting can take the time it takes, and this guide states no duration. A move is also a moment when the amount of cover may be wrong: a new mortgage, a new country, children who now depend on one income. Recalculate the need with an adviser if you have one. Do not keep an inadequate policy only because replacing it sounds inconvenient, and do not drop a policy only because a forum said cover was unnecessary abroad.
Keep the schedule, the nomination and the insurer’s email about the move with your will. Tell the person who would claim how to find them. A policy nobody can locate is not a kindness you have left behind.
Before you act
If you have more than one policy — an employer scheme, a personal policy, a policy attached to a mortgage — list them before you ask anything. The employer scheme may end when the job ends or when you move, and the mortgage policy may exist only to repay a particular loan. Ask each provider the move question separately. Then ask an adviser, if you use one, whether the remaining cover matches the people who depend on you after the move, including a partner who is not on the new country’s paperwork yet. Update nominations only when you are sure they match your wider intentions. A quick form that contradicts a will is a gift to a future dispute.
A practical checklist
- Ask the insurer about the new country before you move.
- Read beneficiaries.
- Note who owns the policy.
- Separate employer cover from your own.
- Check the currency against the family’s spending.
- Do not cancel until a replacement, if any, has started.
Questions to ask
- Can this policy continue if I live there?
- Must I tell you?
- Who is named, and can I change that?
- Who owns the policy?
- Which currency is the benefit in?
- If I replace it, is new underwriting required?
- When does employer cover stop?
Common mistakes
- Cancelling to save premium during the move.
- A nomination from a previous relationship.
- Assuming employer cover follows you.
- Putting the policy in a trust without advice.
- Judging two premiums without reading the exclusions.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
