# Life Insurance



## stevesainty

Whilst doing a routine check on my level of life insurance for both Jill and me I googled a bit to see if I could get a better deal.
I was surprised to discover that any new life cover that I take out would not be valid if I live in Spain, in fact they would not issue a new policy on the basis that I was moving to Spain. I have yet to check my current provider but I suspect that the cover will cease as soon as I become non-resident in UK.
Do any of you have any life cover from a Spanish insurance company?
Do you have any details of costs.
The sort of thing I am thinking of is one that Saga do for £12 per month that will pay out £10k on first death. Both the premiums and pay out remain constant throughout the life of the policy, which ceases when the first person reaches 80.
It is just to cover funeral costs and legal costs etc with perhaps some money towards inheritance tax. 
I don't want to pay a significant amount per month as it is a gamble, we may both outlive the policy.

Kindest regards

Steve & Jill 

PS I am 56 next and Jill is 62


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## Stravinsky

Welcome to our world.
When you move here you will be amazed at the number of things you cant do in the UK any more.

Investments I have, have to be registered to a UK address, as they are not happy if you are no longer a UK resident
You wont be able to start certain tax free savings accounts
You will struggle to open a UK bank account should you need one in the future
If you have SKY, they will cut you off if they find you have moved to Spain

I could go on 

I do have a life insurance on my wife that is with Liverpool & Victoria and is still valid though.


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## Beachcomber

I moved to Spain prior to it becoming a member of the European Community and I had several life/endowment insurances with various companies most of which have now come to fruition with no problem whatsoever. Neither did my High Street bank object to continuing to operate my bank account when I notified them of my change of address.

All the insurance companies sent annual statements to my Spanish address and even gave telephone numbers on which they could be contacted for queries from outside of the UK the only downside being that I was no longer entitled to tax relief on the premia and had to pay them in full. When the policies matured the proceeds had to be paid into a UK bank account which was fine as I didn't want the money to come into Spain anyway.

I think you need to shop around and find a company that does not have a xenophobic attitude to your situation. There is certainly no legal or fiscal reason why you should not be able to take out life insurance in the UK except, as I have already said, you will have to pay the premia in full without tax relief.

See this FAQ on the Legal and General web site:

Life Insurance FAQ's - Legal & General

particularly this one:

_*What happens to my policy if I decide to move abroad?*_

_ If you take out a policy with us and then move abroad later on during the term of your policy, your cover will continue as long as you carry on paying premiums. 

_In fact, the only reference to the cancellation of a policy is if you live_ outside _of the EU for more than a certain amount of time.


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## xicoalc

I had the same experience as Beachcomber. UK insurances and banks were perfectly happy for me to retain my accounts and policies when I moved to Spain. Even credit facilities (cards etc) were happy for me to keep the accounts open and send all correspondence to Spain.

I would personally for _new _life insurance look at Spanish companies though because I can imagine hassle and red tape to get through if you claim from a UK company following death in Spain. I would think that at the very least you will require death certificates etc all officially translating, which is of course perfectly do-able but a hassle at a time you need it least. Insurance companies in the UK (and everywhere else) obviously always look for ways out of paying and any medical reports, post mortem results etc may all need to be translated and sent... I can just imagine it being a ball ache.

At this stage I have no Spanish life insurance but in my experience of general insurances, Spanish policies do tend to differ from UK ones in as much as levels of cover, exemptions etc. Therefore I would advise going to see an independant reputable insurance broker and sitting down for a chat about what you want. Maybe also talk to your Spanish bank because they all offer insurance and are all keen to gain the business.


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## stevesainty

Thanks for the info. Can we contact you for some of outher queries? Sometimes in forums people go off the subject.
Kindest regards

Steve & Jill


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## xicoalc

stevesainty said:


> Thanks for the info. Can we contact you for some of outher queries? Sometimes in forums people go off the subject.
> Kindest regards
> 
> Steve & Jill


I dont know who you mean, but if that was aimed at me, of course you can! Anything general is always goodo to keep in forums to help others,


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## Stravinsky

Beachcomber said:


> I moved to Spain prior to it becoming a member of the European Community and I had several life/endowment insurances with various companies most of which have now come to fruition with no problem whatsoever. Neither did my High Street bank object to continuing to operate my bank account when I notified them of my change of address.
> 
> All the insurance companies sent annual statements to my Spanish address and even gave telephone numbers on which they could be contacted for queries from outside of the UK the only downside being that I was no longer entitled to tax relief on the premia and had to pay them in full. When the policies matured the proceeds had to be paid into a UK bank account which was fine as I didn't want the money to come into Spain anyway.
> 
> I think you need to shop around and find a company that does not have a xenophobic attitude to your situation. There is certainly no legal or fiscal reason why you should not be able to take out life insurance in the UK except, as I have already said, you will have to pay the premia in full without tax relief.
> 
> See this FAQ on the Legal and General web site:
> 
> Life Insurance FAQ's - Legal & General
> 
> particularly this one:
> 
> _*What happens to my policy if I decide to move abroad?*_
> 
> _ If you take out a policy with us and then move abroad later on during the term of your policy, your cover will continue as long as you carry on paying premiums.
> 
> _In fact, the only reference to the cancellation of a policy is if you live_ outside _of the EU for more than a certain amount of time.



I dont think I mentioned keeping a bank account
Opening a new one is quite difficult though, I can tell you that from my personal experience, and of others.
Investments ... I had to advise that I was UK resident (as I was at the time) but any correspondence has to be sent to a UK address as my IFA is not allowed to write to a non UK resident, and the UK companies would not accept non UK buisness

Life insurance .... I dont know so couldnt comment other than in theory tax free income in the UK could be considered taxable in Spain if you were to declare it


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