LV= gift inter vivos key features, as set out in LV='s adviser material from 2024 and 2025, describe a seven-year plan whose lump sum falls as the tax on a gift falls, meant to be sold with advice. Royal London covers gift inter vivos protection in guidance for advisers and sells its advised life cover only through a financial adviser. Below is what each insurer's documents say on how cover falls across the seven years, trusts and applying. The idea behind the cover is in gift inter vivos insurance explained.

Made a gift, or about to? Give a name, age band, phone number, email and postcode in the form on this page; you then get a free ring-back from a broker with FCA authorisation.

What are the LV= gift inter vivos key features?

LV='s material on this plan is written for advisers and describes their clients. It consists of archived copies of LV='s adviser web pages (captured 11 July and 7 September 2025) and its Gift Inter Vivos Product Profile (print code 423125-2024 04/24, marked "For UK financial adviser use only"), all read on 26 October 2026. LV='s current pages may differ, so check the terms that come with any quote.

The Product Profile calls it "a seven year single life decreasing term assurance policy which provides a one-off lump sum payment and the amount of cover reduces each year in line with the inheritance tax liability." Its adviser pages set out the main terms, summarised here:

  • The term is fixed at seven years, with entry ages from 17 to 79 and a latest age of 86 when the plan ends.
  • Premiums are guaranteed, so they are fixed, and can be paid monthly, quarterly, annually or as one single payment.
  • There is no cash value at any time, cover may end if premiums stop, and the plan cannot be changed once it has been issued.
  • The applicant must be living permanently in the UK.

LV= says the plan "should only be used where the value of the gift exceeds the current nil rate band, or where the client has made gifts in the previous 7 years that have already exceeded the nil rate band." It also states that it "won’t pay a claim if your client dies as a result of intentionally taking their own life in the first 12 months of the policy."

The Product Profile also lists who the plan is not designed for, including people looking for joint life cover and people who have gifted to a spouse. The plan covers one life only, either the client's own life or the life of another person.

How does LV= gift inter vivos cover reduce over the seven years?

LV= says the amount paid on death goes down over the plan's term in line with the inheritance tax liability, and its at-a-glance page ties this to taper relief. The cover is level at first, then steps down. Here is LV='s table of the share of the cover paid, by years after the plan start date:

Years after plan start dateAmount of cover paid
0-3100%
3-480%
4-560%
5-640%
6-720%
7+0%

After seven years the plan has ended and pays nothing. LV='s Product Profile gives the reason for the fixed term: a gift can be liable for inheritance tax for up to seven years. The tax rates the steps follow, and how the starting figure is worked out, are in the guide to how gift inter vivos cover works, and the legal meaning of the term is in what gift inter vivos means.

Wondering how cover would be sized around a gift of your own? Your details sent through that same form get you a broker's phone call, with nothing to pay.

How do you set up an LV= gift inter vivos policy in trust?

The Product Profile says: "An own life Gift Inter Vivos policy should normally be written in trust, or the policy should be set up on a life of another basis." The difference is who ends up holding the payout.

LV= explains both outcomes. If the policy is written in trust or taken out on the life of another, the proceeds "won’t normally form part of an estate for inheritance tax purposes". If it is an own-life policy that is not in trust, "the amount of cover paid on death will be added to the deceased’s estate and may be subject to inheritance tax."

The steps for writing a policy in trust are covered elsewhere on this site: how to put a life insurance policy in trust explains the forms and trustees, and tax on a payout made to a trust covers what happens when the money is paid. Which trust suits a particular gift, and how LV= handles the paperwork for this plan, can be explained for free by the broker on your call-back.

How do you apply for an LV= gift inter vivos plan?

Through an adviser. LV='s Product Profile says it believes this product "should be sold on an advised basis, face to face or over the phone." Quotes and applications are handled on LV='s adviser site, which in the archived copy gives advisers a phone line and an email quote option under a Quote & Apply heading.

The eligibility points are the ones listed above. The 2024 Product Profile adds that taking out the plan makes the client a member of Liverpool Victoria Financial Services Limited, the mutual behind the LV= name.

What does Royal London publish about gift inter vivos cover?

Royal London's advised life cover, which it also calls its Personal Menu Plan, is sold through advisers; its wider range is in the Royal London life policy guide. The advised life cover page says: "You can only buy advised life cover from a financial adviser." The page says the adviser asks about your finances and lifestyle and then sends Royal London the application, that you answer medical questions and may need a medical before cover starts, and that the amount of cover can increase, decrease or stay level over the term.

Gift inter vivos itself appears in Royal London's guidance for advisers (published 21 April 2026), on a site meant for financial advisers only. It describes two ways of arranging the protection, a single decreasing term or a set of level term plans (the guide linked above explains both), and its disclaimer says the guidance may not reflect the options available under a specific product. LV='s archived material, by contrast, describes one seven-year plan.

On trusts, the guidance says gift cover is often written in trust for the person who received the gift, because that person is normally liable for the tax. Royal London's Personal Menu Plan details (July 2025), which cover its advised life plan generally rather than gift cover, say that if a plan is written in trust, "we’ll pay the trustees." Its trust forms page lists forms including a Discretionary Trust and a Bare Trust, and strongly recommends separate legal and taxation advice before signing.

Whether a Royal London plan could be arranged that way around one particular gift is a fair question for the broker who rings you, at no charge, once the form is in.

Frequently asked questions

How can I get an LV= gift inter vivos quote?

LV='s archived adviser page tells advisers to phone its team or get a quote by email, so a quote comes through an adviser, worked out around the gift and the person whose life is insured.

Can two people take out one LV= gift inter vivos policy?

The Product Profile says the policy can only be taken on a single life, and that it is not designed for people looking for joint life cover. That means one life per policy.

Can you get a Royal London gift inter vivos quote online?

Royal London's advised life cover is only sold through a financial adviser, who sends the application. Its gift inter vivos guidance sits on a site for advisers, so a quote starts with an adviser.

For the wider picture on trusts and tax, see Trusts & tax. If you are weighing up either insurer for a gift, use the form here to book a conversation with a broker, which costs nothing.

Sources