You can get life insurance on someone else, such as a partner, ex-partner, sibling or friend, only where you have an "insurable interest" in them, which insurers such as LV= describe as a financial loss if they died. You do not have to be married to share joint cover, though a husband, wife or civil partner is treated differently from everyone else.

Which route an insurer would take up depends on your own details, and an FCA-authorised broker can check that with you. Our form on this page arranges the call, free of charge.

What does insurable interest mean when you insure someone else?

Section 1 of the Life Assurance Act 1774 bars insurance on a life "wherein the person or persons for whose use, benefit, or on whose account such policy or policies shall be made, shall have no interest, or by way of gaming or wagering", and makes any assurance contrary to it "null and void". Section 2 makes it unlawful to issue such a policy "without inserting in such policy or policies the person or persons name or names interested therein".

LV= (an undated FAQ page, read 20 October 2026) gives the working test: "You can buy insurance for another person as long as you are able to take a policy and there would be some provable financial loss if they died. This is called ‘insurable interest’."

How that plays out for parents and grandparents is on life insurance for parents, for children on life insurance for children, and for a business owner or director on key person insurance. This page covers the other relationships a reader tends to ask about.

Can you insure a spouse or civil partner, and do you need to be married?

LV='s FAQ says that if you are married or in a civil partnership "you can insure each other, using a life insurance policy and there’s no need to prove insurable interest". For married couples, that is the insurer's statement; for civil partners there is also statute: section 253 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 provides that each "is to be presumed for the purposes of section 1 of the Life Assurance Act 1774 (c. 48) to have an interest in the life of the other", and that "For the purposes of section 3 of the 1774 Act, there is no limit on the amount of value of the interest." Section 3 is the part of the 1774 Act that caps what can be recovered from the insurer at the value of the interest.

The same FAQ says that "In normal circumstances, a spouse or civil-partner will take a ‘joint life’ insurance rather than ‘life of another’". What a joint policy is, and how it compares with two single ones, is in joint vs individual life insurance. The FAQ adds that the insurer's own cover is taken only on your own life or as joint life, and points anyone wanting a policy on someone else to a financial adviser.

What about an unmarried partner, boyfriend, girlfriend or friend?

LV='s joint life page (undated, read 20 October 2026) says there is no need to be married or in a civil partnership for joint cover, and ties cover to loss rather than to the relationship: it is open "as long as you would suffer a financial loss in the event of each other’s death", and "There’s no requirement for you to be in a romantic relationship with the second person on your policy, but you would need to be financially dependant on that person."

Legal & General's page of 11 March 2026 says the application process is the same for married and unmarried couples, and that "friends with a shared financial responsibility, such as a joint mortgage, could consider joint life insurance".

Both pages describe joint cover. If you want to own a policy on a partner's or friend's life alone, or there is no shared mortgage or financial dependence between you, ask the insurer or broker whether it would accept the application and what evidence of interest it wants. On reform, the Law Commission reports that stakeholders have told it the current law "prevents, for example, socially useful insurances for children or cohabitants". Its project page says it published an updated draft Bill in June 2018 and is "now analysing responses to our consultation on the updated draft Bill and will produce a report with final recommendations in due course".

A payout goes to the legal owner or owners of a policy whether or not you are married, according to that Legal & General page; how a trust or a will changes who receives it is on who the beneficiary is.

Can you take out life insurance on an ex-partner?

LV='s FAQ says: "If you’re looking to insure an ex-spouse or civil partner, then insurable interest will be needed. Any policies you had before you separated can still be kept unless you cancel them." A new policy on an ex-partner therefore turns on interest, as it would for anyone outside a marriage or civil partnership.

One reason for such cover appears in MoneyHelper's separation guide: in a copy archived on 3 August 2025, it suggested that anyone receiving child maintenance from an ex-partner consider life insurance on that person's life. What a settlement may say about cover, and what happens to a joint policy, is in what happens to joint life insurance after divorce.

Can you take out life insurance on a brother, sister or other relative?

Being related is not enough on LV='s wording: "You can take insurance for your siblings as long as you are old enough to take a policy and there would be some financial loss if they died. For example, if you went into business or you bought a home together. There isn’t a reason to insure your sibling simply because you’re family." For an aunt, uncle, cousin or other relative, ask the insurer or broker what financial link it would want to see.

The same FAQ describes another route: the other person takes a policy on their own life and ownership is then transferred to you by a "Deed of Assignment". It urges speaking to a financial adviser first "as there may be tax implications".

Does the other person have to agree, and who owns and pays?

Legal & General's adviser application form (print code W11904 02/26), filled in with a financial adviser, separates three roles: the person whose life is covered, the policy owner, and anyone paying the premiums who is "neither the policy owner nor the life insured". An owner who is not the person covered must be over 18 and have an insurable interest in them, and signs a declaration that "should be read, confirmed, signed and dated by the Policy Owner, not by the Client(s)". The form's question on the owner's relationship to the person covered has boxes including spouse, co-habiting partner, ex-spouse and ex-partner; these are form fields, not a statement of what the insurer will accept.

On agreement, the same insurer's guide on insuring parents (9 March 2026) says a parent has to agree before cover is taken out on their life, and that the person being insured fills in the application. That is written about parents and is one insurer's process. For a partner, friend, sibling or ex-partner, ask the insurer or broker whether the person covered must agree, whether they complete the application and health questions themselves, and who signs as owner.

To find out what an insurer would ask of you and of the person you want covered, the contact form here arranges a no-charge conversation with a broker.

Frequently asked questions

Can you buy a life insurance policy on anyone?

No. A policy on someone else's life needs an insurable interest, and the 1774 Act makes one without it void. Your own life is the exception: Legal & General says everyone automatically has an insurable interest in their own life.

Can I take out life insurance for my husband?

LV= says married couples can insure each other without proving insurable interest, and normally do so with a joint policy. For cover you would own on his life alone, it points you to a financial adviser, because its own policies are single-life on yourself or joint.

Can I get life insurance on my boyfriend or girlfriend?

The insurer pages quoted above describe joint cover for unmarried couples where there is a financial loss or dependence between you. For a policy you would own on their life alone, ask the insurer or a broker whether it would be accepted.

Can I get life insurance on my ex-husband?

LV= says a new policy on an ex-spouse needs insurable interest, and that policies taken out before you separated can be kept unless cancelled. MoneyHelper's archived 2025 guidance gave receiving child maintenance as one reason to consider cover on an ex-partner's life.

Can I get life insurance on my brother?

On LV='s wording, only where you would lose money if he died, for example through a business or a home you share, and not simply because you are family.

A broker will phone you after you submit the form here, and any decision stays with you.

Sources

  • Life Assurance Act 1774, sections 1 to 3, read 20 October 2026. section 1; section 2; section 3
  • Civil Partnership Act 2004, section 253, read 20 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
  • LV=, Can I Insure Someone Else for Life Insurance? (undated), read 20 October 2026. lv.com
  • LV=, Joint Life Insurance (undated), read 20 October 2026. lv.com
  • Legal & General, Single vs joint life insurance (11 March 2026), read 20 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, Can you insure your parents? (9 March 2026), read 20 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, OLP CONNECT Application Form (SA26) (W11904 02/26, adviser form), read 20 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • MoneyHelper, Insurance for dependants and your will on separation (archived 3 August 2025), read 20 October 2026. web.archive.org
  • Law Commission, Insurance Contract Law: Insurable Interest (project page, undated), read 20 October 2026. lawcom.gov.uk