Twelve months before your term life policy ends: a checklist

The final year of a term policy goes quickly, and the decisions in it are lopsided. If you act early, you have every option: keep the coverage, convert it, replace it or let it end on purpose. If you wait until the notice arrives, you may find that the conversion deadline has already passed, that a new policy would take two months to underwrite and that the old one is about to cost many times what it did. This checklist spreads the work over twelve months so that none of it lands in the last few weeks.

Month numbers count down to the end of the level-premium period, so Month 12 is a year out and Month 1 is the last month. The steps are general. Your policy's own wording, which you will pull in Month 12, controls every deadline and every price. The guide what happens when your term life policy expires explains the possible endings, and this post turns them into a schedule.

Why a year is the right amount of time

Three things take longer than people expect.

• Underwriting for a new policy. A fully underwritten application can take weeks, especially if the insurer needs records from your doctor. Add the time to compare quotes and the time for the policy to be delivered and paid.
• Conversion paperwork. A conversion requires illustrations, a choice of product and signed forms. The insurer may need time to issue the new contract.
• Thinking. The question "do I still need this?" deserves more than a weekend, because the honest answer may involve a spouse, a retirement plan and an estate.

Starting twelve months out also gives you a margin. Policies often have conversion windows that end before the term does, and a few have different rules in the final years. You cannot know until you read the contract.

Months 12 to 10: Dates, need and written answers

Month 12: Pull the paperwork and find the real dates

This month is about facts, not decisions.

• [ ] Find the policy contract, not only the cover page or an app summary. If you cannot, ask the insurer for a duplicate.
• [ ] Write down the end of the level period in plain language: the exact date, not "year 20."
• [ ] Find the conversion provision and write down its deadline. It may be a calendar date, an age or a number of years after issue, and it may fall before the end of the term.
• [ ] Find what happens after the level period. The policy may stop, continue at a much higher annual premium, drop to a lower death benefit or offer a new level period. The terms are in a section on renewal or a table of guaranteed premiums.
• [ ] Note the premium schedule after the level period, including the guaranteed maximum, not only the current rate.
• [ ] Set calendar reminders for the conversion deadline, the term end and the dates for each month below.

Reason: every later choice depends on these dates, and the one most often missed is the conversion deadline, which can be earlier than people assume. If a notice from the insurer is sitting unread in a drawer, find it now.

Month 11: Re-test the need

Write a fresh answer to the question the policy was bought to solve.

• [ ] List who depends on your income today. Children under 18 or in school, a spouse who relies on your pay or pension, a relative you support.
• [ ] List what would be owed at your death. Mortgage balance, other debts, final expenses.
• [ ] List what you now have to cover it. Savings, retirement accounts, other life insurance, employer coverage that stays with you into retirement and Social Security survivor benefits.
• [ ] Subtract. If the first two lists total less than the third, your need may be gone. If not, the shortfall is the amount of coverage to keep, convert or replace.
• [ ] Ask whether a need is lasting. Final expenses, a surviving spouse's income gap or a dependent with long-term needs can continue after the term ends.

The odds of outliving your term shows the odds of outliving a term, which can be useful context, though it should not replace the list above. Reason: coverage that nobody depends on is a bill you may not need to keep paying, and coverage that someone does depend on is worth protecting early.

Month 10: Ask the insurer in writing

Put these questions to the insurer's service line or your agent and ask for answers in writing.

• [ ] What is my exact conversion deadline? Ask for it in a letter or secure message.
• [ ] Which products can I convert to, and can I convert part of the face amount?
• [ ] What is the premium after the level period, year by year for the first several years?
• [ ] What would the conversion cost, shown as an illustration at the amounts you might use?
• [ ] Will the death benefit change after the level period? Some policies reduce it.
• [ ] Can I extend or renew for a shorter period, and at what price?

Reason: verbal answers fade and agents change. A letter gives you a record. If you are weighing a conversion, the converting term life to permanent: how the conversion option works guide lists the details to confirm, and the post the conversion window on a term policy, year by year shows how the window works year by year.

Months 9 to 7: Health, quotes and the decision

Month 9: Check your health picture

If the answer to the need question is "yes, some coverage is still needed," your health will shape the price of a new policy.

• [ ] Schedule a checkup if you have not had one recently. Know your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight.
• [ ] Request your MIB file and your prescription history report, both free on request. See the The MIB report: what insurers know about your history guide. Fix errors before an underwriter sees them.
• [ ] Gather medical facts: dates of diagnoses, medications and their purpose, hospital stays.
• [ ] If you use nicotine, ask the insurer how long you must be free of it to qualify for non-tobacco rates.
• [ ] Note anything that changed since you bought the policy. A new diagnosis makes the conversion right more valuable, because it ignores health.

Reason: the choice between converting and replacing turns partly on whether you are still healthy enough for a competitive quote. Finding out in Month 9 leaves time to use the right if the answer is unfavorable.

Month 8: Collect competing quotes

• [ ] Decide what you would buy: a shorter term (10 years is common for people in their fifties), a smaller amount or a permanent policy for a lasting need.
• [ ] Get at least two or three quotes for a fully underwritten policy, plus one from the same insurer if possible. Ask whether the quote assumes the best rate class.
• [ ] Line the quotes up on amount, length, rate class, premium type (guaranteed or not) and conversion rights.
• [ ] Put the old policy's post-level price and the conversion quote beside them.

A hypothetical comparison shows why this matters. Say your level premium has been $40 a month. After the level period, an illustrative jump to ten times that level means $400 a month, which is $4,800 a year. A new 10-year policy for a smaller amount might cost an illustrative $150 a month, or $1,800 a year. The difference is $4,800 - $1,800 = $3,000 a year. The figures are made up to show proportion; actual numbers come from quotes. The 2021 Society of Actuaries study of post-level term policies found first-year premiums that could be 10, 20 or even 30 times the level premium, so the possibility is real, but your contract has the facts.

Month 7: Choose a path

By now you have the dates, the need, the health picture and the prices. Pick one of five roads and write down why.

For the choice among these, see renewing term life insurance after the level period ends and the other guides in this post. If you are keeping some coverage and letting some go, say so explicitly, because the plan has two parts.

Months 6 to 4: Acting on the decision

Month 6: Apply for new coverage, if that is the road

• [ ] Submit the application while the old policy is still in force.
• [ ] Answer fully and consistently. The contestability period starts again on a new policy, and a misstatement can matter later.
• [ ] Keep paying the old policy. Do not cancel it until the new one is issued, delivered and paid.
• [ ] Respond promptly to requests for records or exams.

The post replacing a term policy without leaving a coverage gap covers how to avoid leaving a period without cover. Reason: a gap is the main way a replacement goes wrong.

Month 5: Update beneficiaries and ownership

• [ ] Review every beneficiary designation on the old policy and on any new one. Life events since you bought the policy, such as a divorce, a death or a new child, may have changed who should be named.
• [ ] Confirm the owner and who can change the form.
• [ ] Add a contingent beneficiary if there is none.
• [ ] Name a trust or custodian if a minor could inherit.
• [ ] Tell the people named where the paperwork is.

Month 4: Complete a conversion, if that is the road

• [ ] Choose the product and amount from the written illustrations.
• [ ] Submit the conversion application well before the deadline.
• [ ] Confirm in writing the effective date, the rate class, the premium and what happens to any remaining term coverage.
• [ ] Ask whether the contestability and suicide clocks restart on the new contract.
• [ ] Check the first premium and set up payment.

Months 3 to 1: Watch the money and close the loop

Month 3: Watch the money

• [ ] Look at your bank draft. If the premium is drawn automatically, the larger post-level amount may start coming out without a new decision from you. The SOA study found that policyholders on automatic bank draft were less likely to drop coverage than those billed, which suggests that people drift into higher premiums.
• [ ] Decide whether to stop autopay for the old policy if you plan to let it end.
• [ ] Look for the insurer's notice about the change in premium, and read it.

Month 2: Confirm the new coverage is real

• [ ] Check that the new policy is in force: issued, delivered, first premium paid.
• [ ] Read the delivered policy against the quote, including the amount, rate class and term.
• [ ] Use the free-look period if something is wrong. It is often 10 to 30 days.
• [ ] Store the new policy where family can find it and update the list of policies.

Month 1: Close the loop

• [ ] Confirm the end date of the old policy with the insurer, and what, if anything, will be billed after it.
• [ ] Cancel or stop payment on the old policy only if the new one is in force and you have chosen to end the old one.
• [ ] Record the decision with the reason, so a future you or a family member understands.
• [ ] Tell your spouse or executor. Policies are found only if someone knows to look.

Letting the policy end on purpose

For many people the right answer in the final year is to let the term end. That is a legitimate decision, not a failure to plan, but it should be made deliberately. Five questions make it deliberate.

1. Is anyone still financially dependent on my income? If your children are grown and your spouse has their own income and savings, the answer may be no.
2. Is the mortgage or other large debt paid or small enough to be covered by savings? If a debt would fall on someone at your death, that is a need.
3. Would my death create a cash shortage? Final expenses, a gap in household income from a pension that stops, or taxes on an estate can all be reasons to keep a small amount.
4. Do I have a dependent whose needs will last? A child with a disability or a spouse who relies on lifelong income is a different calculation from a household of independent adults.
5. If I am wrong, what is the cost? A policy bought at 61 after a health change may cost far more than the old one; the cost of being wrong is the price gap.

If all five answers point to no remaining need, ending the policy saves the premium for another use. If any of them points the other way, compare the smallest policy that would meet it against the cost of not having it. A fee-only planner can help test the answers, and the ten years before your term ends: a countdown plan post takes the same questions over a longer runway.

After the end date

Check that no premium is drafted and that the insurer's records match what you expected. If you chose to let the policy end, note in your files that the coverage has ended and why. If you converted or replaced it, put the new policy's anniversary and review date in your calendar so that the cycle does not catch you off guard again. The ten years before your term ends: a countdown plan post shows how to start earlier next time.

Key takeaways

• Start twelve months out: conversion windows can end before the term does, and new underwriting takes weeks.
• Get the deadline, the post-level premium schedule and the conversion terms in writing in the first three months.
• Test whether the need is gone, then compare staying, converting, replacing and ending, with real quotes beside the old policy's renewal price.
• Never cancel an old policy before the new one is issued, delivered and in force, and watch automatic drafts for a sudden premium jump.
• Update beneficiaries, tell your family where the policy is and record what you decided and why.