#lifedecision

It’s natural to want to protect your parents. After all, they raised you.

But does your desire to help Mom and Dad extend to buying life insurance for them? Well, it can. However, you can’t surprise them with the gift of a life insurance policy. You’ll need their permission to purchase coverage on them. You may also need to prove that you would suffer financially if they died — for instance, because you receive financial support from them.

Do Your Parents Need Life Insurance?

Your parents might not think they need life insurance. But if someone would suffer financially if they pass away, it’s worth a look. Here are some of the ways that life insurance can ease a financial burden after a parent’s death.

Covering final expenses. When you think of final expenses, you most often think of costs related to a parent’s funeral. But a payout from a life insurance policy also could pay off a parent’s remaining medical bills or other debt.

Leaving a legacy. Aside from covering final expenses, a parent’s life insurance payout could enable them to, for instance, donate money to a favorite charity or help put their grandchildren through college.

Boosting retirement income. Let’s say your dad dies before your mom does. When he was alive, Dad received a pension. But the rules of his pension plan dictate that the pension benefits end upon his death, leaving Mom without a vital source of income. The payout from Dad’s life insurance policy could replace some or all of the lost pension benefits.

Providing an early death benefit. Some life insurance policies have “living benefits” that allow for some or all of a policy’s death benefit to be used to cover the medical bills of the insured person while they’re still alive. For example, accelerated death benefits let someone withdraw money from their own death benefit if they’re terminally ill.

Options for Parents’ Life Insurance

The available options for life insurance will depend on your parents’ age and health. Choices and affordability diminish with older age and health conditions.

Term life insurance

Term life insurance covers a certain period of time, such as five, 10 or 20 years. The coverage ends when the policy term ends. One of the advantages of term life insurance is that it costs less than other types of life insurance. Term life insurance might be best if your primary concern is covering the years of a mortgage and other debt, or for replacing income after a parent passes away.

Universal or whole life insurance

Universal life insurance and whole life insurance are options for a parent who wants life insurance in place no matter when they pass away. These policies also have the potential to build cash value, although it can take many years with some policies to build any significant cash value.

These types of life insurance can cover a parent’s final expenses or enable them to leave money to a charity or to their heirs. It costs more than term life insurance, but you can depend on getting a death benefit regardless of when a parent passes away.

Guaranteed issue life insurance

Guaranteed issue life insurance doesn’t require a medical exam and you can’t be turned down, so it’s an option for a parent who can’t qualify for traditional life insurance due to health issues. But this option is one of the most expensive ways to buy life insurance.

Guaranteed issue life insurance death benefits are usually very low, between $10,000 and $25,000. In addition, if the insured person dies from anything other than an accident, there’s usually a waiting period of one to two years before a beneficiary can get the full payout from a guaranteed issue life insurance policy.

Final expense life insurance

Final expense, or burial insurance, can pay for a parent’s funeral costs and unpaid medical bills. It’s a whole life insurance policy that supplies a small payout when the insured person dies.

How Do You Buy Life Insurance For Your Parents?

Although you might like to give a gift of life insurance to your parents, it’s not quite that simple.

First, you must obtain a parent’s permission before you purchase a policy that insures them. This means a parent’s signature on an application.

A parent must also be willing to go through the application process. For instance, if an insurer requires a medical exam for a parent to be insured, Mom or Dad would need to agree to that. Note that the insured parent must answer application questions on their own.

Additionally, you must be able to demonstrate that you have what’s known as an “insurable interest.” Translation: You must be able to show that you’d face financial difficulties if the insured parent dies. Children generally have insurable interest in their parents.

Fortunately, death benefits from a life insurance policy are paid tax-free to the beneficiary. An adult child could be both the policy owner (who is ultimately responsible for paying the policy premiums) and the beneficiary.

As always, compare life insurance quotes and benefits from several insurers, regardless of what kind of life insurance you’re buying. And be sure to look into the company’s financial strength so that you can gain assurance that the company can pay all its future claims.

My husband is having to make the hardest decision of his life. He's being level-headed, thinking of all options, but most of all, he's decided its going to be done God's way. The way that God lays on his heart to do. I am very proud of my husband for how he is approaching things. Turning things over to God is one of the things I struggle the most with. So I commend him. I pray God will give bless him somehow through all of this.

This young man has been through hell. He aspirated in October of last year and got pneumonia. He aspirated again. They put a pegtube in so that we didn't have to worry about him aspirating anymore. He has been in the hospital every month with pneumonia and some other kind of issue. Now he has pneumonia, pancreatitis, and septic shock. He's not breathing on his own.

So my question for thought today is:

Where do you draw the line and say enough is enough? They've been through enough. Let them be. Is it wrong to give up on them or is it more wrong to let them suffer?

Sixteen years ago, I had to make this decision about my mom. She had been in ICU for over 6 months. She would get better and then something else would happen. She was finally sent to a nursing home and the duty nurse didn't clean out the throat port so she suffocated to death. They resuscitated her but she remained in a constant state of seizing for two days until I went to my stepdad and told him that it was time. I was the one who had to make that decision for everyone else. It affects me to this day. I can't imagine having to make that decision for my child.

If your a praying person, please pray for guidance and peace for us. Thank you in advance.

You know when it’s near the end of the semester and you just don’t want to care anymore about that pile of not-yet-done work? But you keep going on because your parents once told you school is important or because you know it yourself and you have a goal in your life.