No, you cannot take out any life insurance policy for your parents, without their consent. Firstly, their personal and medical information is needed, how would you manage that? Secondly, their signature on insurance applications is required.
Even if a person forges the signature of his parents with goodwill, still if he gets caught, it is a punishable crime. He will be accused of committing life insurance fraud. Only thoughtful and kind people think about buying life insurance policies for their parents.
It is a smooth process if done in a righteous manner. Let’s get started with the guide for this process. Firstly, the most important term to understand in this context is insurable interest.
What is insurable interest?
When I buy life insurance for myself, I am the policy owner as well as the insured person. If I buy it for my mother, then I stay the policy owner but she becomes the insured person. When a policy owner and an insured person are different, this leads to an insurable interest.
For eligibility for a life insurance policy, the insured person’s death must be proven financially catastrophic for the policy owner/ policyholder. If this cannot be proved with documents, the insurance firms do not allow me to buy a life insurance policy for my mother.
When can you buy a life insurance policy for your parents?
- After getting their consent.
- Letting them participate in the process actively.
- Proving that they’re financially dependent on you, through documents.
- Prove with documents that their death can transfer financial strains of their prior outstanding debts or funeral costs, onto you.
What do you need as prerequisites for buying life insurance for your parents?
- Proven Insurable interest
- Their signature
- Their legal competence
- Their updated medical record
- Their Social Security Number
- Their Driver’s License Number
- Their present address, all medical and contact details.
When can you buy a life insurance policy for your parents?
You can buy the life insurance policy for your parents only if you are more than 18 years old and your parents are not older than 85 years.
How to get Life Insurance for your Parents?
Determine the coverage
Ensure that whichever life insurance policy you choose, caters to covering all their outstanding expenses. It includes past debts, mortgage loans, medical bills, old care home expenses, and any other expenditures in the future. Careful calculation of expenditures is better to determine the coverage.
Find the Right Policy
Go for the life insurance policy that you can easily afford. Choose the policy for which you can pay the premium payments smoothly, every month. This is awfully important, selecting the right fit at the beginning is extremely important. For large coverage, a term life insurance policy is better. Similarly, if small coverage works for your parents for a decade, a final expense life insurance policy will do.
Decide amongst yourselves who will own and who shall pay for it
Mostly the parents do not pay for their life insurance policy, their offspring does. But if you can convince them enough to actively participate in this process, try asking them to decide who should pay for the purchase of the policy.
Prove insurable interest
If you buy a life insurance policy for yourself, you become the owner and the insured person. If you purchase it for your parents, they become the insured person and you are the policy owner. This is called insurable interest.
Furthermore, you have to prove that your parents’ demise will financially impact your life negatively afterward. If you can do that, you are eligible to buy a suitable life insurance policy for your parents.
Facilitate them through the medical examination
Once you’ve applied for the policy for your parents, the reputed firms run the medical exams on your parents through their medical centers. They conduct basic medical checkups through their own agent too. He takes their height, weight, blood pressure, BMI, urine, and blood samples. Finally, get your parent’s consent on the life insurance policy application via their sign.
How to convince your parents to buy life insurance?
Discuss in depth the grave concerns such as their outstanding debts, mortgage loans, their future care expenses, and other matters. It is imperative to talk to them about sensitive topics too. Convince them with care and logic about the funeral, and cremation costs after their death.
Ask your parents if they want to name any single or multiple beneficiaries for their life insurance policy. If you show care and concern, they will understand and comply with the purchase of a suitable life insurance policy.
What does Life Insurance for my parents cover?
- Old Care Home Expenses
- Their Medical Bills
- Paying off mortgage loans
- Outstanding debts
- Funeral Costs
- Cremation Charges
How much does life insurance for a parent cost?
If your father is a fairly healthy guy with a good lifestyle and does not smoke at the age of 55, you can buy a life insurance policy with a death benefit payout of $500,000 with a bare minimum premium of $145 only, every month.
Similarly, if your mother has an active and healthy lifestyle and is a nonsmoker at the age of 55, she can get the same policy for $105, only.
Which type of life insurance is suitable at which age?
- Best for younger parents: Foresters Financial
- Best for older parents: Lincoln Financial
- Best final expense policy: Mutual of Omaha
Conclusion
Buying a life insurance policy for a parent is a noble deed and relieves both parties from future financial stress. It is necessary to get your parent’s consent, their trust, and their medical information. Furthermore, their personal and contact information is also required.
Make sure that you convince them to be a part of the process to provide a better future to you and them, alike. Find the right fit for them, in terms of coverage, premium charges, and type of policy suitable for them.