Survivorship Life Insurance

Continuing our weekly postings on life insurance ....[Our past postings: Life Insurance in general, Term Insurance, Permanent Insurance]

Our today's topic is a special kind of permanent life insurance: the Survivorship life insurance. Survivor Life policies pay a death benefit only after both insureds die. These policies are typically purchased by couples who have sizable assets and want to maximize the amount they leave to heirs or charities by allowing the beneficiaries to use the death proceeds to pay inheritance taxes.

Survivorship universal life (SUL) and survivor variable universal life(SVUL) simply combine the features of survivorship life with universal life and variable life in one policy (consult our past posting). Because a survivorship life policy pays benefits only after both insureds die, it's usually a less expensive option than buying two seperate policies.