How can I transfer a life insurance policy?

Question

My parents took out a life insurance policy on me when I was a child. I am now married and would like to transfer it into my name with my wife as the beneficiary. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Yes. You can transfer ownership of a policy into your name - since you are the insured.

Also, you can have the beneficiary changed to your wife. You may need to wait until ownership is transferred to your name however.

Look in the policy itself for the ownership transfer privilege and the beneficiary section. The rules should be spelled out clearly within the policy as to how you can go about making the changes you want to make.

If you have questions, call the life insurance company directly and speak with a customer service representative. The phone number should be printed on the cover of the life insurance policy. Have all your questions written out to refer to once you are speaking with the company representative.

Make sure you ask them to send you a copy of their responses in writing if you want to keep it for your file. Or, maybe you could go to their company web site online and e-mail them your questions. This way, they will reply with an e-mail outlining exactly how to make the changes. I'm sure this happens frequently with juvenile life insurance policies from Globe Life or Gerber Life, so the insurer should be used to getting this question.

I hope that helps! Best of luck to you and make sure to get it in writing for your files. Also, if you are considering adding some coverage then you may want to go to http://www.term-life-online.com They offer a lot of information, articles, tips and things to know about term life insurance to help you in making an informed decision about your life insurance plan.

Answer 2

The Life Insurance Company may not even want to talk to you - you are not the owner of this policy. I'm sure, with your parent(s) permission, you could become the owner. After you are the owner you can change the beneficiary to whomever you want. Have Mom or Dad call the company - or the agent that sold it to them.

And don't just let anyone talk you into cashing this policy in. It's probably cheap as all get-out (it may even be "paid up" ) and may have automatic increase in coverage benefits available at intervals - regardless of your health at that time. Ask someone with diabetes, high blood pressure, or some other un-insurable affliction how valuable that feature is.

Term insurance tends to get more expensive the older you get - to the point where it woulda been cheaper to buy the whole life policy when you were young. Term insurance is great to cover your debt or give a young family some money to continue on with if you die young, but in many states the "term" it covers you for could expire long before you do. Don't depend on it to be there if you die at a ripe old age. In NYS, for example, all term policies expire at the Insured's age 80. You now have zero coverage at the exact time you'll probably be needing it real soon. At 70-80 years old to find you have zippo death benefit can really suck. Look at the rates for that "just enough to pay for the funeral" policy for a 70-80 year old - it's not pretty.

Answer 3

No, policies are generally not transferrable. The policy is on you, but is owned by your parents. If they want, they could transfer ownership, with your permission, but you cannot transfer ownership without their consent.

And, that policy is probaby a miniscule $5,000 just enough to bury you policy. You're much, much better off getting a decent term life insurance policy for $250,000, for your wife, depending on your age and health, it should cost less than $25 a month.

Answer 4

Call the company that issued the policy. They can tell you what to do. They probably expected you to take over the policy when you turned 18 all along.

Answer 5

how to change befeficiary