You have to understand the rights that you have when it comes to your life insurance policy as it may affect your family greatly if you don’t. You should find a policy that will fit the needs of your family after you?ve passed away because it’s easier to find a policy than it is to try to negotiate a change in policy.

The rights you have on your life insurance policy may change depending on which type of life insurance you pick. Whole life insurance is the most talked about life insurance policy there is. This type of policy will last until you die and will provide a monthly payment to your family members. Term life insurance is similar in regards to how it works however it will only last for a predetermined number of years. If you have not died by the end of the policy then you will no longer have life insurance. The benefit to this type of insurance is that the monthly premium is usually lower than a whole life insurance policy.

In both cases you will be entitled to what is known as a free look period. This is a law in every state that the companies are required to give you a time period between 10 and 30 days to review the policy. The actual time period will vary from state to state however some states require that a notice of the law is actually given to you with your policy. If you decide that you don?t want to continue the policy after the time period all you will have to do is have a written statement and hand them the statement with the policy. They will refund your payment and the policy will become a voided policy.

This period is extremely important for many people as they will be able to take it to someone and have that person help them understand the technicalities of the policy. The free look period varies from state to state and in some cases from company to company. Although contracts are supposed to be easy to read they are not in most cases. Thus you should take full advantage of this free look period so that you get what you want in your policy.

If you have chosen to get term life insurance then you should use your time period to reconsider getting whole life insurance. The problem with term life insurance is that it may expire before you die. If this is the case then you will have a problem getting affordable life insurance down the road. As people become older they become a very high risk for life insurance companies as they are expected not to live as long and therefore make many less payments. You may be able to persuade companies by making a lump sum deposit to them as it will lower your risk factor and it may even save you money on your monthly premium.

You may also want to negotiate payment terms with your life insurance company. Many companies like to pay all of the money over an extended period of time which can make it hard on the family to pay for the funeral. You may be able to negotiate a lump sum payment to your family and then smaller payments after that to ensure they have enough money for the burial and other expenses.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal.

[tags]Insurance, Finance, Life Insurance, Life Cover, Health, Death, Disability, People, Family[/tags]