Life Insurance for Children

Child life insurance works similarly to adult life insurance, paying a death benefit to beneficiaries should a child pass away during the coverage period.1 However, you’ll want to make sure it makes sense for your circumstances. Aflac offers juvenile term and whole life insurance options for children. Let's take a closer look at life insurance for kids so you can choose the right plan for you and your loved ones.

4.5 Min Read

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Child life insurance pays a death benefit to beneficiaries — usually parents, siblings, or grandparents — if they pass away while the policy is active.
There are whole life and term life insurance policies for kids, but each company may have its own regulations for child life insurance.
Aflac juvenile life insurance offers both whole life and term life policies that can give families peace of mind.

What is Child Life Insurance?

Child life insurance is generally offered in the form of term or whole life insurance. Term life insurance provides coverage for a set amount of time while whole life insurance provides coverage for the entirety of one’s life.

One of the main appeals of life insurance is that it has the ability to help support loved ones following a loss. When learning about what child life insurance is, you may want to reflect on your intentions and reasoning before taking the plunge.

Who Should Get Life Insurance for Kids?

There are a few instances where it may be a good idea for you to explore a child life insurance policy:

Your child has a medical condition that will impact them for their entire life.
Your family has a medical history that may put your child at risk early in life.
You don’t have the savings to cover final expenses, like a funeral.
You want to lock in low premiums for a permanent children’s life insurance policy that accumulates cash value that the child can use as an adult.

If any of these cases apply to you, it may be worth exploring life insurance for kids.

How Does Child Life Insurance Work?

Child life insurance works similarly to adult life insurance. As long as you continue to pay monthly premiums, the policy remains active, paying a death benefit should the policyholder pass away during the coverage period. There are a few special considerations for child life insurance, however. These include:

Limited availability: With insurance some companies, minors may not be able to have their own life insurance plans, nor can they directly receive life insurance payouts.²
Age maximums: Many policies are available for children age 17 or younger, but some companies may cap the insurable age at 13 or 14. Others may allow adults up to age 25 to be insured by parents before they must take over the policy themselves.²
Medical exams: Unlike adults, children are often not required to get a medical exam before purchasing life insurance.³
Lower death benefits: The death benefit for children’s life insurance policies is usually lower than adult policies because children typically are not supporting their families with income.⁴

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Pros and Cons of Child Life Insurance

Guaranteed future insurability, access to cash value, and final expenses are enticing potential benefits of child life insurance. However, even the best child life insurance plans can have their drawbacks.

Pros of Life Insurance for Kids

Guaranteed future insurability: If your child has a serious medical condition or the family has a concerning medical history, getting a child life insurance policy can guarantee future insurability. For instance, Aflac’s juvenile whole life insurance allows the child to be covered as long as premiums are paid, regardless of their future health. Even if they develop a serious medical condition at a young age that makes life insurance as an adult cost-prohibitive or difficult to obtain, he or she could still have coverage.
Cash value: Depending on the policy and company you choose, some life insurance policies for children grant the ability to claim cash value or take loans on the policy’s accrued cash value. A policy that allows early access to cash value can help with college tuition or a down payment on a first home.
Covers final expenses: The loss of a child is devastating, and the cost of a funeral can add insult to injury. A death benefit can help cover these costs.

Cons of Life Insurance for Kids

Poor rate of return: Usually, children have lower rates of mortality, which in turn can create a poor rate of return on whole life insurance plans for children.⁵
Long term-expense: Locking a child into a life insurance policy when they’re young will set up years of premium payments, which they’ll have to take over down the line.

Cost of Life Insurance for Children

Like life insurance for all family members, how much you’ll pay may depend on age, medical history, lifestyle, and location. That said, the average cost of life insurance for children ranges from $3 to $27 per month for a child under the age of one.⁵

Aflac Child Life Insurance

Aflac juvenile life insurance offers both term and whole life insurance policies for children, with no medical exams required. These policies can provide long-term peace of mind for you and your family. To learn more about your child’s options and get a quote, chat with an Aflac agent today.

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