Joint life insurance in trust works differently from a single policy in trust: both people on the policy have to agree, both become settlors, and the main choice is whether the survivor can receive the money if one of you dies first. Insurers' trust forms settle that choice in different ways; below is what Aviva, Legal & General (L&G) and Royal London say, read in October 2026.

Planning to write joint cover in trust from day one? Which insurers' trust wording would suit you is worth raising with an FCA-authorised broker. The brief form on this page is how you get one to ring the two of you, free.

Who owns a joint life policy, and what changes when it goes in trust?

On a joint policy you are both owners, which is what "joint owner" and "co-owner" mean here. L&G says that without a trust the proceeds of a joint policy are paid automatically to the survivor. Cover that pays only once both of you have died is a different kind of joint policy, set out in first death and second death joint cover explained.

A trust moves legal ownership to trustees, who hold the policy for beneficiaries the two of you pick, so on a joint policy two people are giving it away together. L&G says that where a policy is jointly owned, both policyholders are "automatically joint settlors", and Aviva's guide says both owners must consent, so neither of you can put the policy in trust alone. For the three roles see settlors, trustees and beneficiaries in a life insurance trust; for the form-filling, the steps to writing a policy in trust.

Which trusts do Aviva, L&G and Royal London offer for joint cover?

Insurer (document read)Trust named for joint policiesThe survivor after a first death
Aviva (Guide to trusts, EDCO0853 0126)Bare Trust and Discretionary Trust, for last survivor policies and for first death policies (if appropriate)Receives the money only if the couple select the Survivorship Option and the survivor outlives the first death by 30 days
Legal & General (Protection trusts page; Survivor's Discretionary Trust Guide, W13397 09/2023)Survivor's Discretionary Trust, for first death policies onlyReceives the money if they outlive the first death by 30 days; not a beneficiary under L&G's Discretionary, Absolute or Flexible trusts
Royal London (The Discretionary Trust, A P9 PD 0002/4, June 2026)Discretionary Trust with two donorsReceives the money by default if they survive the other donor's death or terminal illness by 30 days, unless the donors opt out in clause B2

Note the opposite starting points: with Aviva the survivor benefits only if the couple opt in, with Royal London unless they opt out. L&G's other trusts leave the survivor out of a first-death payout altogether. Under its Discretionary, Absolute and Flexible trusts, it says, if the money is payable on the first death, "the surviving person on the policy would not be a beneficiary and therefore would be unable to receive any of the money."

If you are looking at a different insurer, the broker can walk you through its trust wording on the free call-back.

Who are the trustees of a joint life policy trust?

Both of you, and at least one more person. L&G's guide says its survivor's trust "automatically makes both settlors trustees", and Royal London's form likewise makes the donors trustees automatically. Aviva requires the settlor to be a trustee alongside at least one trustee who is not a settlor; for couples, that extra trustee is there so the trust still has someone to look after it "even if both settlors of a joint life policy die".

Royal London requires at least one extra trustee for the trust to be effective and allows up to four, because two trustees will usually be needed to pay out a claim once one or both donors have died. L&G's guide calls it "normally sensible to appoint at least two trustees in addition to yourselves." Aviva cautions that asking a beneficiary to act "could lead to a conflict of interest." The trustee's job is covered in what a life insurance trustee does.

What happens to a joint policy in trust on the first death?

That turns on the option the couple chose when they signed the form.

  • No trust. The survivor receives the money, as L&G says above.
  • A trust with no survivor option. Aviva says that if the Survivorship Option is not selected, "any death benefits payable under a joint life first death policy will be paid to the trust (not the survivor) regardless of how long the survivor lives after the death." The trustees then hold it for the beneficiaries named in the deed.
  • A trust with the survivor option. Aviva says the settlors choose for a first-death payout to go to the survivor "if he/she survives the death by 30 days" or to the trust if the survivor does not. L&G's survivor's trust applies the same 30-day test, and Royal London's form applies it unless the donors opt out.

Under L&G's survivor's trust the trustees make the claim, sending L&G the trust deed, the original policy documents and a death certificate. Critical illness or terminal illness benefit is handled apart from the death payout: L&G says its trust "automatically makes you the beneficiary" of those proceeds, unless you sign to have them held for the trust's beneficiaries instead.

If it is a named beneficiary rather than one of you who has died, see when a beneficiary dies before the policyholder.

What happens on the second death?

A first-death policy that has already paid. Once the survivor has outlived the first death by 30 days, L&G's guide says the trust fund passes to the surviving settlor, and the money then forms part of the survivor's own estate. If the survivor dies inside the 30 days, L&G says "the discretionary beneficiaries will benefit in the same way that they would for a standard discretionary trust": the trustees decide among the beneficiaries the deed lists.

A policy that pays only when both have died. Aviva's Bare and Discretionary trusts can be used with last survivor policies, and Royal London's form gives joint life second death plans as its example of when donors may not want the survivor to benefit, which is what its clause B2 opt-out is for. With a trust in place, the trustees claim and hold the money for the beneficiaries. The cover itself is explained in how second death cover pays out.

Someone must be left to act. After the last surviving donor dies, Royal London's form lets the trustees appoint new ones; under L&G's guide the surviving trustees can add trustees, and if the last trustee dies their legal personal representatives can appoint others or act themselves.

Does a trust keep a joint life policy out of your estate?

Partly, and this is where the survivor option bites. Aviva says "If a life insurance policy is written in trust, it is no longer part of the settlor’s estate." Choose the survivor option, though, and a first-death payout lands in the survivor's estate, so Aviva warns the trust may fail to mitigate inheritance tax when the survivor dies. L&G's guide says the same of its survivor's trust, and Royal London's form says that for joint donors who have not ticked clause B2 the value of the trust fund "may not fall outside their estates."

Aviva also says that normally, where inheritance tax is the aim, the settlor needs to be excluded as a beneficiary, and that it "may be appropriate to consider writing two separate policies", so that each of you puts your own policy in trust and the other can still benefit from it. Weighing that against one joint policy is the subject of joint vs individual life insurance. L&G's deed says its survivor's trust is designed for family protection and lists inheritance tax planning among the uses it is not designed for.

That is how the insurers themselves put it; it is not tax advice, and the rules may change. For lifelong cover bought with an inheritance tax bill in mind, see whole of life insurance and inheritance tax. To find out which insurers would write your joint policy under the kind of trust you have in mind, complete this page's form, and the broker who phones back can set out the choices without charge.

Should a joint policy be in trust, or simply go to your partner?

Start with who you want the money to reach, and when. If the answer is your partner and nobody else, a joint first-death policy with no trust already pays the survivor, as L&G says. A trust adds control over who benefits, which can matter where there are children, a partner you are not married to (life insurance for unmarried couples) or a relationship that might end (joint policies after divorce).

For its discretionary, survivor's discretionary and flexible trusts, L&G suggests a letter of wishes, "a non-binding way of letting the trustees know who the settlor would like the policy proceeds to benefit." Nobody named in its survivor's trust is promised a share; the guide says "no beneficiary is guaranteed to receive any of the trust fund." Whether you need a trust at all is weighed in the pros and cons of writing life insurance in trust; other joint and single policy types are in types of policy.

When you know what you want the trust to do, pop your name and number into this page's form; on a short call the broker can check which insurers will set a joint policy up that way from the start.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the beneficiary of a joint life insurance policy?

With no trust, a first-death policy pays the surviving policyholder, L&G says. Once it is in trust, the people named in the deed are the beneficiaries, and the survivor is one only if the trust's survivor option applies.

Do joint life insurance policies form part of an estate?

In Aviva's words, a policy written in trust is no longer part of the settlor's estate. Money paid to a survivor after a first death is different: it becomes part of that survivor's estate.

Sources