Legal & General Life Insurance Overview

Legal and General (L&G) is a multinational financial services group that is the largest life insurance provider in the UK and one of the biggest insurance and asset management groups in Europe. It was founded in the UK in 1836 and offers a wide range of insurance, retirement and investment solutions, including life insurance, pensions and ISAs.

Legal & General offers a comprehensive range of life insurance policies to fulfil different life cover needs. The main L&G life insurance policy options include:

• level term life insurance
• decreasing life insurance
• over 50 life insurance
• joint life insurance
• life insurance with critical illness cover
• business protection

» MORE: What are the different types of life insurance?

Life insurance from Legal & General usually works by paying out a lump sum if you die or receive the diagnosis of a terminal illness where your life expectancy is predicted to be less than a predetermined period during the policy term.

You decide the level of cover you want and the length of time it will last when you apply. You’ll need to pay monthly premiums for your L&G life insurance, which must be up to date when a claim is made for the policy to be valid.

» COMPARE: Life insurance

To make a claim on a Legal & General life insurance policy, you can call L&G Monday to Friday. A claims handler will then guide you through the claims process and confirm any documents you might need to provide.

Alternatively, you can email or write to the Legal & General Claims Department.

Once accepted, L&G state claims are paid out within five working days.

If you’re within the 30-day cancellation period for a new L&G life insurance policy, you have the option to return your cancellation notice in the post or cancel online if you register for and log in to your Legal & General account.

If you would prefer to speak to someone, or wish to cancel L&G life cover that you’ve held for more than 30 days, you can call them Monday to Friday.

Premiums should be refunded if you cancel within 30 days, but you won’t get any money back if you cancel any further into the policy term.

After you have used our quote system, to apply for life insurance from Legal & General, you’ll need to provide personal details including your age, sex, health, build and job. You’ll also be asked about your family medical history, your lifestyle and hobbies, and whether you smoke. This will provide L&G with the information to get your application under way.

You’ll be contacted by Legal & General if it needs any additional information or you’re required to go for a medical examination.

» MORE: Life insurance for smokers

It’s not possible to cash in an L&G life insurance policy. There is no cash value to a life insurance plan from Legal & General unless you make a valid claim.

Legal & General does offer over 50s life insurance. The plan offers guaranteed acceptance without the need to answer any questions about your health if you’re between the ages of 50 and 80.

» COMPARE: Over 50s life insurance

Legal & General life insurance reviews can be found at Smart Money People, where it is currently rated ‘Great’, with four out of five stars.

For a more general appraisal of Legal & General overall, but one where L&G life insurance is regularly mentioned, you could visit Trustpilot, where the current rating is 3.2 stars out of five.

Ratings are correct as at 28 June 2022.

L&G offers an online policy management system for its customers, which you can sign up for using your customer reference number. Alternatively you can contact its customer services team.