I took out life insurance and changed my mind

Signing in a hurry is more common than it looks

Life policies are often signed at a hectic moment: alongside a mortgage, with paperwork piled on the table and everyone keen to finish. It is common to read the policy properly later, back at home, and realise it was not quite what you wanted.

For exactly that situation the law keeps a way out that requires no explanation to anyone.

What the law says

The policyholder may cancel the contract without giving reasons and with no penalty within 30 days of the date the insurer hands over the policy or the provisional cover document. The clock runs from delivery of the document, not from signing or from the first premium.

There are conditions. It must be an individual policy with a term longer than six months. Expressly excluded are contracts where the policyholder bears the investment risk, and those whose guaranteed return depends on assigned investments — the more financial products.

Form matters. The notice must be sent to the insurer on a durable medium that leaves a record, and it must be sent before the deadline expires. Saying it verbally is not enough.

From that notice, cover ceases and the right to a refund arises, less the part corresponding to the time the contract was in force. The insurer has 30 days from receiving the notice to refund it.

An example

Someone signs a life policy on 3 March and receives the policy document on 10 March. The clock runs from the 10th: they have until 9 April to withdraw. If they send the notice on 8 April by a means that leaves a record, they are within time even if the company logs it days later, because what counts is the date it was sent.

Cover ceases from that notice and the premium is refunded less the proportional part for the month the contract was live.

If the deadline has already passed

After 30 days, withdrawal is no longer available, but the contract is not sealed forever: there is still the route of opposing the renewal, with its own deadlines, which we cover on another page in this section.

And if what does not fit is one particular cover rather than the whole policy, the right conversation is often a review rather than a cancellation.