The maximum age for family income benefit is 86 at Aviva, 79 at Scottish Widows and 64 at Legal & General, going by each insurer's own product papers. Because the monthly income stops when the term runs out, the age by which each policy has to finish (before the 90th birthday at Aviva, before 70 at Legal & General) decides how many years of payments a late applicant can still buy.

Those limits turn on exact birthdays and on the term you choose, so it helps to have an FCA-authorised broker set them against your date of birth on a free call-back, which you can ask for with the form on this page.

Does the limit apply when you apply or when the income would stop?

Both. Each insurer sets an oldest age to start and a latest age by which the policy has to end, and with family income benefit the second matters more than it looks, because the monthly amount is paid only until the term runs out. Aviva's key features put it this way: "We’ll pay the monthly benefit for the remaining term of the cover." How those payments work is set out in what family income benefit means, and choosing the length is covered in how much family income benefit you need.

Put the two limits together and the room shrinks quickly. Aviva lets you choose any number of years between 3 and 70, and its policies must end before the 90th birthday, so an applicant of 86 has room for little more than that minimum. At Legal & General, whose plan must end before age 70 and runs for at least 5 years, a 64-year-old is in the same position, and the 40-year maximum term is out of reach.

The insurers also word their limits differently. Aviva says "no older than 86" for applying and "before you reach your 90th birthday" for the end; Legal & General's table gives a maximum age for buying and an age the policy must end before; Scottish Widows prints "90 next birthday" for when cover finishes. Where Scottish Widows' next-birthday wording lands for one particular date of birth is worth putting to the broker.

This is why a few months can change which terms are open, and why an age table tells you who may apply rather than who will be offered cover.

Which ages appear in each insurer's family income papers?

Each entry below is one insurer's own document or web page, with the code and date it prints. The products differ, so the figures are not a like-for-like comparison.

  • Aviva. The YourLife Plan Family Income Benefit key features (EDCO0871-0126) say: "To apply for this cover, you must be at least 17 years old and no older than 86." The term can be "any number of years between 3 and 70, although the insurance must end before you reach your 90th birthday."
  • Scottish Widows. The adviser section of its website describes Life Cover with a level or increasing basis "available as a lump sum or monthly family income benefit", with 18 as the minimum age when cover starts, 79 as the maximum, and "90 next birthday" as the maximum age when cover finishes. The page prints no date; it was read on 26 October 2026.
  • Legal & General. Its policy summary for Life Insurance with optional Critical Illness Cover and the Family and Personal Income Plan (QGI12844 2026/10, a version hosted in its adviser area) gives 64 as the maximum age for buying the Family and Personal Income Plan, a term of 5 to 40 years, and a requirement that the policy ends before age 70. The same row for the plan with Critical Illness Cover is 64, with terms of 5 to 50 years and an end before age 75. The summary adds: "The minimum age to take out a policy is 18."

An age inside a limit only means an application is allowed; whether the insurer offers terms is decided separately, on health and the size of the cover.

If you are close to one of these ages, tell the broker the date you were born when they ring, and ask which term lengths still fit.

What if you are past the family income limit?

Legal & General's own table shows how much the product matters: its ordinary Life Insurance row gives 77 as the maximum age for buying, against 64 for the Family and Personal Income Plan. Scottish Widows' page, by contrast, lists one set of ages for its Life Cover, whether paid as a lump sum or as a monthly family income. If a monthly income no longer fits your age, at Legal & General a lump sum policy has a later limit, and life insurance cover till what age covers the oldest ages to start one. For a policy tied to a mortgage, the age limit for mortgage life insurance is the page to read.

To weigh the two shapes of cover against each other, see family income benefit against level life insurance, and to line up quotes once you know which insurers are open to you, comparing family income benefit quotes sets out what to match.

Anyone near or past a cut-off can ask the broker which of the insurers it works with would consider someone of their age, a free conversation that begins when you send the form here.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a minimum age for family income benefit?

In the papers above, Aviva allows applications from 17, while Legal & General and Scottish Widows give 18 as the youngest age.

Which insurer has the highest age limit for family income benefit?

Of the three papers above, Aviva's is the highest, at 86 for applying, with the policy ending before the 90th birthday. Other insurers print limits of their own.

What is the longest term I can choose?

Aviva lets you choose any number of years between 3 and 70, though the policy must end before your 90th birthday. Legal & General allows up to 40 years for its plan without critical illness cover and up to 50 with it, subject to the end ages of 70 and 75.

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