Plain-English UK answers FCA-authorised broker introduction Free to ask, no obligation
The questions nobody wants to ask

What actually happens to your mortgage if you die?

The debt does not disappear. Nor does the rent, the childcare, or the direct debits. We answer the questions people only think to ask afterwards — clearly, for the UK, with the real numbers.

  • What your employer, the NHS and the benefits system actually pay
  • What your family would be left owing, and who they would owe it to
  • What it would cost to close the gap — free to ask, no obligation
28 weeksis the longest statutory sick pay can ever run
Noneis what the self-employed get
£0to find out what cover would cost
Free, no obligation

See what cover would cost

Three short steps, then a specialist broker calls you with real figures.

  1. 1Cover
  2. 2You
  3. 3Quotes

Step 1 of 3

What would you most want to protect?

What would you most want to protect?

No medical questions here, and nothing to sign.

Step 2 of 3

A few basics about you

Have you smoked or vaped in the last 12 months?

It changes the price more than almost anything else, so a quote without it is guesswork.

Last step — almost there

Where shall we send your quotes?

Add your number and a specialist broker will call you with real figures.

✓ Free to ask✓ No obligation✓ FCA-authorised broker

How this site works

Answer first. Sales pitch never.

Most people find us looking for something else entirely — a question about a joint mortgage, sick pay, a will, or a diagnosis. So we answer that question properly first.

01

You have a question

What happens to the mortgage. How long sick pay lasts. Who looks after the children. Whether the debts die with you. Real questions with real answers.

02

We give you the whole answer

Including the uncomfortable part: what the state, your employer and your estate actually cover, and the size of the gap that is left.

03

You decide what to do about it

If you want to know what closing that gap would cost, a specialist broker prices it and calls you. If you do not, the answer was still free.

Built around real situations

Start with what is on your mind

Browse all 1,191 guides
191 guides Life insurance by occupation Real UK workplace safety data for specific jobs, and what that risk means for a life insurance application. Explore this topic 63 guides Bereavement admin, assets and contracts Bank accounts, direct debits, ISAs, insurance on an empty house, subscriptions and digital assets in the weeks after a death. Explore this topic 63 guides Bereavement benefits and state support What the state pays when someone dies, the eligibility cliff edges and time limits, and the gap between that and what a household costs. Explore this topic 63 guides Business owners: what dies with them Sole directors, partnerships and company debt — what happens to a business, its bank account and its people when an owner dies. Explore this topic 63 guides Death in service and employer cover What an employer's death-in-service benefit actually pays, when it stops, and the gaps it leaves that people assume are covered. Explore this topic 63 guides Debt, credit and finance after a death Credit cards, car finance, buy-now-pay-later, overdrafts and business borrowing when the borrower dies, and who is genuinely liable for what. Explore this topic 63 guides Family history, inherited risk and the odds What UK survival and mortality data actually says about people with a family history — and what insurers may and may not ask about it. Explore this topic 63 guides Dependants and unusual family shapes Unmarried partners, step-families, single parents, disabled adult children and carers — the households the default rules serve worst. Explore this topic 63 guides Funeral costs and who pays What a UK funeral actually costs, who becomes personally liable for the bill, and what the state does and does not contribute. Explore this topic 62 guides Getting cover with a history, a condition or a job What UK life insurers actually ask, what leads to a rating rather than a decline, and the honest position on non-disclosure. Explore this topic 62 guides Life events that change who depends on you First home, new baby, marriage, divorce, remarriage, retirement and becoming a carer — the moments that quietly change what a family would need. Explore this topic 62 guides Mortgages and property when someone dies What happens to a mortgage, a home and the roof over a family's head when an owner dies — joint liability, lender forbearance, named schemes and the sale clock. Explore this topic 62 guides Pensions, nominations and death benefits Who a pension scheme actually pays when a member dies, why an out-of-date nomination form matters so much, and how survivor rules differ by scheme. Explore this topic 62 guides Probate, the estate and inheritance tax Probate and confirmation, the cashflow gap between a death and the grant, and what the estate owes before anyone inherits anything. Explore this topic 62 guides Renting and tenancy after a death Tenancy succession across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and what happens to a household that rents when someone dies. Explore this topic 62 guides A terminal diagnosis and putting affairs in order Finding and using cover that already exists, the terminal illness benefit inside a life policy, and the practical steps that matter most. Explore this topic 62 guides Wills, guardianship and children Wills, intestacy and who looks after and pays for a child if a parent dies — including the family shapes the intestacy rules were never written for. Explore this topic
The gap most people never measure

The state pays less than almost anyone expects.

Statutory sick pay is a flat weekly amount, and it runs for 28 weeks at most. If you are self-employed there is none at all. Bereavement Support Payment is time-limited and only paid if you qualify. Meanwhile the mortgage, the rent and the childcare carry on exactly as before.

✓

Work out the real number. Not what cover costs — what the shortfall is, every month, if one income disappears.

✓

Match the cover to the problem. A lump sum, a monthly income and a payout on diagnosis solve completely different problems.

✓

Ask before you need it. Price rises with age, and a diagnosis can close the door entirely. This is the one purchase you cannot make late.

See what cover costs

Free to ask and no obligation. The broker will explain which insurers it can compare, any fee, and how it is paid.

Our editorial promise

We would rather be useful than optimistic.

Written for the UK. Statutory sick pay, Universal Credit, probate, intestacy and the FCA — not American terminology borrowed from a US site.

Sourced and dated. Where we quote a rate or a statistic we say where it comes from and when it applied, because these figures change every April.

Honest about money. We may be paid when we pass a completed enquiry to a broker. That never changes what a guide says.

Never a promise. We do not say you will be accepted, and we do not say a claim will be paid. Both depend on the insurer and on you.

Find out what it would cost

Most people guess high. Then they find out.

Three short questions, no medical history to start. An FCA-authorised specialist broker prices cover for your situation and calls you with the figures. Free, and no obligation.

See what cover costs Free to ask. No obligation to buy.
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