Does a Trailing Spouse Need Life Insurance?

Personally I despise the expat-standard term ‘trailing spouse’ – it conjures up images in my mind of someone being dragged abroad reluctantly, and of that person’s presence being to the detriment of the whole amazing expatriate experience.  But, nevertheless it is the way partners of professional expatriates are described when they accompany said partner on an assignment.

The truth is very often that the ‘trailing spouse’ is accompanying the partner and bringing the children along for the ride, and that they are 100% responsible for the nitty gritty of the relocation and even the bottom line success of it – or otherwise!  Many relocation companies now recognise the importance of ensuring the successful integration of the accompanying family members as being critical to the success of the overall placement.  Because if a professional’s family are not happy at home, they will struggle to be happy in their new place of work.

So, assuming you’re going to work abroad and you’re being accompanied by your partner who will be remaining in the home and ensuring the smooth running of your life, does your trailing spouse need life insurance?  Very few expats have sufficient insurances in place to protect the value of their partner – and when it comes to stay at home spouses, the lack of life insurance is a shocking reality.  In this article we show you why you need life insurance in place, and how to manage to find an affordable policy.

A survey has been done by Legal and General into the ‘value’ of a stay at home spouse, they rated the value based on someone who looks after the house and the children and who manages the life of their partner, and the latest survey suggests the value of such a ‘trailing spouse’ is upwards of £33,000 annually.  So, if you want to know how much your life is worth in terms of you as an ‘employee,’ you could be looking at getting insurance in place to pay someone £33,000 to replace you, yet the fact of the matter is, very few expats get any life insurance in place at all on the life of their stay at home partner.

What this could mean is that if you, as the stay at home partner were to unfortunately die and leave your working partner the burden of taking care of the home as well as the children of course, they could need to find an extra £33,000 annually just to cope.  Of course the reality may be different from that, your partner may give up their job and remain at home, but then what would they live on?  They may be given state support, but that won’t add up to much, or perhaps they could call on family to help…but with no life insurance in place at all, the financial burden on top of the burden of grief could be too much for many to cope with.

This is why we are coming down heavily in favour of getting life insurance in place for stay at home spouses in this article today. 

There are policies out there that you might like to look at that provide an index linked income instead of a one off lump sum payout in the event that one partner dies.  Such policies are called ‘family income benefit policies’ and they work out cheaper than life insurance, this is because the term for the policy is fixed as is the annual income that would be paid out, and so as the term goes on, the number of years the pay out would be required for reduces, therefore the potential pay out decreases and so premiums are calculated accordingly from the outset.  With life insurance, whilst the term may be fixed, the amount due to be paid out is also fixed for that entire term.

Whichever type of scheme would suit you, your family and your requirements best, look into the policies available today – because the longer you leave it the less likely you are to get it organised and the greater the risk you run of leaving your family in the lurch.