Ishan & Sitara

Ishan bought his first property in 2017 for £320,000 with a £250,000 mortgage. At the time, he took out £250,000 of life cover and £100,000 of critical illness cover in his sole name.

When he returned in 2023, he was now married to Sitara and the couple were buying a new family home for £610,000. During our review, we found that Ishan’s historic policies offered excellent terms and very competitive premiums, which would be hard to replicate today.

We therefore kept both existing policies in place, placed his life cover under a trust, and recommended top-up life cover to match his new financial responsibilities. Since Sitara had no protection at all, we also arranged suitable life and critical illness cover for her.

This is a textbook example of why older plans should not be cancelled automatically. With a review, the couple were able to:

• retain valuable historic cover
• place the policy under trust
• top up protection to match their new life stage
• ensure both partners were fully covered

Felix & Amy

Felix and Amy came to us in 2021 for a remortgage. They had originally purchased their home in 2015 and arranged their life insurance directly with the insurer at the time.

When we asked for their policy documents, they initially struggled to locate them — a common issue that becomes critical during a claim. After some effort, they shared a copy with us and also made sure their family knew where the documents were safely stored.

Following a full review, we concluded that their existing life and critical illness policies were still appropriate for their current circumstances. No top-up cover was needed, but we placed their existing plans under trust and securely stored copies of their documents in their client folder.

Although no new insurance was taken, the review still delivered meaningful benefits:

• policy documents were located and securely stored
• the family now knows exactly where to find them
• the plans were placed under trust for efficient payout
• reassurance that their existing cover remains fit for purpose

This case shows how valuable a review can be even when no policy changes are required.

Vivan & Rebecca

Vivan and Rebecca approached us around 11 months after their original life insurance was set up at the time of their property purchase. Both were employed when the policies were first taken out.

Within a year, Vivan had moved from employment into a day-rate contracting role through his own limited company. This meant he no longer received the death-in-service benefit he previously enjoyed from his employer.

During the review, we kept Rebecca’s policies unchanged, as her circumstances remained the same. For Vivan, we recommended restructuring his protection by:

• cancelling his new-but-still-young personal life cover
• replacing it with a Relevant Life Plan to benefit from significant tax efficiencies
• increasing the level of life cover to reflect his new responsibilities and lack of workplace benefits

We also reviewed critical illness cover. Although a higher amount would have been sensible, Vivan decided not to increase it for now due to cost considerations.

This case highlights how a review can help align protection with changing employment circumstances — especially when moving to self-employment or contracting.