Free Life Insurance Policy Review

We’ll decode your coverage, flag risks, and show upgrade options—so your policy still fits your life today.

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Review my life insurance policy is one of the most common requests we receive—because most policies were bought for a specific season of life, and life rarely stays the same. Maybe you purchased coverage when you had a new mortgage, young kids, or a tighter budget. Maybe the policy came through an employer plan, a bank, an online quote portal, or a recommendation from years ago. The challenge is that a policy that was “right” then can quietly become inefficient, incomplete, or misaligned now.

At Diversified Insurance Brokers, our policy review process is designed to be straightforward and practical. We look at what you have, what it actually does (not what it was marketed to do), and how it holds up against today’s needs. As an independent brokerage with access to 100+ carriers, we can pressure-test pricing, features, and alternatives—without being limited to one company or one product type.

A true policy review is not just “Do you still want life insurance?” It’s a structured check for common issues that can cost families real money: term policies nearing the end of the level period, permanent policies slowly getting more expensive, outdated beneficiaries, missing riders, misleading assumptions, or coverage amounts that no longer match the financial responsibilities your family would inherit if something happened to you.

If you want a fast start, use the form at the top of this page to upload basic details. If you prefer to read first, this guide walks through exactly how a professional life insurance policy review works, what to bring, and which changes tend to deliver the biggest improvement without creating unnecessary risk.

For broader context on coverage types and how quotes work, you can also review our overview page here: Life Insurance Services.

Life Insurance Policy Review Checklist

A good policy review is methodical. It doesn’t depend on opinions or sales pitches—it depends on reading the contract, verifying what is guaranteed, and matching the structure of the policy to what you actually need it to accomplish today.

Step 1: Confirm beneficiaries and ownership. This sounds basic, but it’s one of the most common “silent failures” we see. Beneficiaries may be outdated after a marriage, divorce, death in the family, or new children. Ownership matters too. If the policy owner and insured are different people (or a trust owns it), the paperwork requirements, control, and possible tax considerations can change. Your review should confirm the current beneficiary designations (primary and contingent), how they are written, and whether they still match your intent.

Step 2: Verify the death benefit and how long it lasts. Many people know their face amount, but not the structure. A term policy might have a level period with a steep increase afterward. A permanent policy might have a death benefit option that changes over time. If your policy is tied to employer benefits, coverage can drop or end when you change jobs or retire. The review should identify what you truly have today—and what you will have later if nothing changes.

Step 3: Understand the premium schedule and guarantees. Some policies have fixed premiums. Some have premiums that can increase. Some have “planned premiums” that assume certain crediting or dividend performance. The review should clearly label what is guaranteed versus what is illustrated, and it should show what happens under reasonable assumptions, not best-case assumptions.

Step 4: Identify riders and policy features. Riders can add real value, but they can also add cost that you no longer need. A policy might include a waiver of premium, accidental death, living benefits, children’s term coverage, or other add-ons. The review should confirm which riders you have, what they pay for, what they exclude, and whether similar (or better) features exist today at a comparable cost.

Step 5: If it’s a permanent policy, evaluate cash value performance and sustainability. Permanent policies can be great tools when designed correctly and funded properly. But they can also drift off course if premiums were reduced, loans were taken, or the policy’s cost structure changed more than expected. A proper review looks at current cash value, how it is growing, what internal charges exist, and whether the policy is on track to last as long as you expect.

Step 6: Re-check health and lifestyle changes. If your health improved, you may qualify for better rates now than when you bought the policy. If your health worsened, your existing coverage may be far more valuable than you realize. A review should never recommend canceling coverage casually; it should prioritize protecting what you already have while exploring safer ways to improve it.

If you want to compare what you have against today’s market, our term strategy guide can help you understand how durations and pricing typically work: Best Term Life Insurance Policy.

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We’ll summarize what you have, what’s guaranteed, where the risks are, and what improvements are realistic.

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Does Your Coverage Still Fit Your Goals?

Most people buy life insurance for a reason that is immediately clear: protect a spouse, keep kids in the same home, pay off a mortgage, replace income, or cover a business obligation. The problem is that those reasons often evolve. Income rises. Debts fall. Kids become independent. A business grows. Retirement arrives. And the policy you bought may either become too small, too expensive, or aimed at the wrong target.

A policy review aligns coverage to your current priorities. For many families, the goal is simple: “If something happened to me, my family should be able to stay financially stable without panic decisions.” That stability can mean replacing income for a number of years, paying off remaining debt, keeping savings intact, or covering predictable needs like final expenses and estate costs.

We usually start with three questions. First: Who would be financially impacted? Second: What obligations would remain? Third: How long would the impact last? Those three questions help determine whether a policy should be time-bound (term insurance), lifetime-based (permanent coverage), or layered (a combination of both).

It’s also important to identify what coverage depends on your employment. Many employer policies are either not portable, not guaranteed to continue at the same price, or simply not large enough to cover real income replacement needs. If you plan to retire soon—or you might change jobs—your review should clarify whether the coverage follows you, and what the replacement plan would be if it doesn’t.

If you’re unsure whether you need more or less coverage, a quality review doesn’t start by selling more. It starts by clarifying your target and identifying whether your current policy structure makes it easy—or difficult—to hit that target over time.

Term vs. Permanent: What to Adjust

The term-versus-permanent conversation is often oversimplified. Term insurance is not “good” or “bad,” and permanent insurance is not automatically “better.” The right answer depends on what you need the policy to do and how long you need it to do it.

When term coverage is usually the best fit: Term coverage tends to shine when your need is large and time-bound—like covering income while kids are still at home, protecting a mortgage payoff window, or securing a period while you build assets. If your policy is term and the level period still has many years left, a review often focuses on confirming the benefit amount, checking beneficiary accuracy, and verifying that the policy is still competitively priced for what it provides.

When conversion options matter: Many term policies include a conversion feature that allows you to convert to permanent coverage without a new medical exam, as long as you are within the conversion window and meet certain rules. If your health has changed, that conversion option can be one of the most valuable features you own. A review should confirm whether your policy is convertible, how long the conversion lasts, what the conversion choices are, and what deadlines you face.

To understand how term conversion typically works and when it can be a smart move, this page provides helpful context: Convert Term to Permanent Life Insurance.

When permanent coverage becomes important: Permanent coverage tends to be most useful when the need is not time-bound—final expenses, estate liquidity, leaving a legacy, covering a special-needs dependent, or creating a pool of funds that will exist whenever death occurs. Permanent coverage can also be part of a broader planning strategy when structured carefully, but it should be reviewed with clear expectations about premiums, guarantees, and how the policy behaves in later years.

Layered coverage is often the “best of both” solution: Many families don’t need to choose one or the other. A review may find that a modest permanent layer covers lifelong needs, while a larger term layer covers the time-bound obligations. This approach can keep premiums efficient while still ensuring the right funds exist at the right time.

Premiums, Guarantees, and “Surprise” Increases

One of the main reasons people request a policy review is that a premium changed—or they fear it’s about to. The most common example is a term policy that is nearing the end of its level term period. When the level period ends, premiums can increase dramatically. This is not a “gotcha” if it’s written in the contract—but it can still be a financial shock if you didn’t plan for it.

A professional review confirms three things: the length of the level premium period, what the renewal schedule looks like after the level period, and whether the policy has any options to reduce risk (conversion, re-shopping, reducing face amount, or layering). Even if you plan to keep the policy, you want to know exactly what it will cost later—not after you receive the first increased bill.

Permanent policies have a different set of risks. A whole life policy generally has strong guarantees when funded as designed, but you still want to understand whether dividends are guaranteed, how the death benefit option is structured, and what the long-term premium commitment looks like. Universal life policies can be more sensitive to assumptions, because performance and policy charges can influence sustainability. If premiums were reduced, if loans exist, or if the policy is older, the review should verify whether the policy is projected to remain in force as long as you expect.

The key outcome of this section of the review is clarity. You should know, in plain language, what is guaranteed, what depends on assumptions, and what action (if any) is needed to avoid a lapse or avoid paying far more than you intended later.

Riders, Exclusions, and What Your Policy Truly Covers

Riders and exclusions are where the “real” policy lives. The face amount tells you the headline number. The riders, definitions, and exclusions tell you what triggers benefits, what doesn’t, and what you’re actually paying for.

Waiver of premium is a common rider that can be valuable when disability occurs, but the definition of disability matters. Some policies use stricter definitions or require specific durations. A review verifies what the contract requires, how long the waiting period is, and whether that rider still fits your situation.

Living benefits (often framed as chronic or critical illness features) may allow an acceleration of the death benefit if a qualifying condition occurs. These features can vary dramatically from one policy to another. A review checks what conditions qualify, how the benefit is calculated, whether it reduces the death benefit, and whether there are fees or limitations that make the rider less useful than expected.

Accidental death riders and similar add-ons can look attractive, but many families overpay for benefits they are unlikely to use or that duplicate other coverage. This doesn’t mean they’re always wrong—it means they should be verified and justified as part of a deliberate plan.

Exclusions are equally important. Most policies have standard exclusions (for example, suicide within a period) and specific limitations depending on policy type. Your review should confirm what exclusions exist, whether any special exclusions were added at issue, and how those exclusions interact with your current lifestyle or occupation.

If your policy includes any underwriting adjustments that affected pricing, it can help to understand how ratings work and how much flexibility exists in the market today. This page explains the concept clearly: Life Insurance Table Ratings Explained.

Table Ratings, Underwriting Class, and Re-Shopping Your Rates

Underwriting class is one of the biggest hidden drivers of cost. Two people of the same age can pay very different premiums depending on health history, medications, family history, build, driving record, nicotine use, and even how an application was presented. Many policies were issued with a rating (or a less favorable class) that may have been appropriate at the time—but circumstances can change.

If your health improved, re-shopping can be worth exploring. Weight loss, better lab values, improved blood pressure, controlled cholesterol, years since a medical event, and non-smoking history can all influence eligibility. A review can help determine whether the potential savings justify the effort of applying again. Just as importantly, we evaluate risk: if you apply again and underwriting is not favorable, your existing coverage remains valuable and should be protected.

If your health worsened, your current policy can be one of your strongest assets. This is where reviews protect people from making mistakes. When health has declined, the temptation to “shop around” can lead people to cancel or replace coverage prematurely. A review focuses on safer steps: confirming guarantees, confirming conversion features, and exploring supplements rather than replacements when appropriate.

If you’ve ever wondered how medical underwriting fits into the process, this page can help you understand what insurers evaluate and why: What Is a Life Insurance Exam?.

We also see situations where people were rated because the carrier viewed a condition more conservatively at the time. In those cases, the best strategy is often not “more coverage” or “different coverage,” but simply better positioning—choosing the right product type, the right carrier appetite, and the right timing.

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Convert, Keep, Supplement, or Replace?

This is usually the most important part of the policy review—because it’s where decisions can create value or create unnecessary risk. The goal is not to replace policies. The goal is to ensure you have the right coverage structure at the right cost, without losing protections you can’t easily get back.

Keeping your policy often makes sense when pricing is strong, the structure is simple, and the policy fits the remaining need. Many term policies are great “as is” if you still need the coverage and the level period aligns with your timeline. Many permanent policies are worth keeping when guarantees are strong and the policy is funded properly.

Converting term may make sense when you still need coverage but your health has changed or you want to secure lifetime protection before the conversion window closes. Conversion can also be used strategically to create a permanent base layer while keeping the rest of the coverage in term.

Supplementing coverage can be the best option when you need more insurance but replacing an existing policy creates risk. For example, you might keep a large older term policy and add a smaller new policy with modern features, or add a second layer to extend coverage beyond the current term’s end date.

Replacing coverage can be appropriate when the math and the contract details support it—but only after a side-by-side analysis that includes: premium comparison, benefit comparison, contestability timing, conversion features, exclusions, and the risk of not being approved at the expected rate class. Replacements should be deliberate, documented, and justified by clear improvements—not by vague promises.

If you’re comparing policies because of pre-existing conditions, this page may be helpful context as you evaluate what’s realistic in today’s market: Life Insurance with Pre-Existing Conditions.

Business Coverage, Family Coverage, and Layered Strategies

Not every policy is purely “family coverage.” Many people have a policy tied to business needs: key person coverage, buy-sell obligations, loan requirements, or continuity planning. These policies still deserve review, because business circumstances change just as quickly as personal circumstances. Ownership structure, beneficiary structure, and purpose matter even more when a business is involved.

A review clarifies the purpose of each policy. If a policy was originally purchased for a loan that has been refinanced or paid down, the amount and duration may no longer match the obligation. If a buy-sell agreement changed, coverage may need to be re-aligned. If income grew, a prior face amount may no longer cover the realistic financial impact.

Layering strategies are often the cleanest solution when needs vary by time horizon. For example, a large term layer may cover 10–20 years of income replacement, while a smaller permanent layer covers the “forever” needs. The best policy review outcomes often look less like “replace everything” and more like “optimize structure.”

When a policy review includes more than one policy, we also look for duplication, gaps, and mismatched beneficiaries. It’s common to find multiple small policies bought over time that don’t line up with one cohesive plan. Sometimes consolidation is beneficial. Sometimes keeping multiple layers is best. The key is making sure the total structure is intentional.

What to Bring to Your Policy Review

The fastest policy reviews happen when we can verify the “source of truth” documents. If you don’t have everything, that’s okay—start with what you can find. In many cases we can still identify the major issues and help you request missing items.

Most helpful items to provide: the policy contract (or policy schedule pages), your most recent annual statement, any in-force illustration you’ve received, premium notices (showing mode and amount), and any rider pages or amendments. If you have multiple policies, include a list of each one and its purpose (income replacement, mortgage, final expenses, business coverage, etc.).

If your policy is older, it’s especially helpful to provide the page that shows the policy’s premium structure, level term period (if term), and any conversion details. If it’s a permanent policy, the latest in-force illustration can show whether the policy is projected to remain in force under current funding.

Once we review the basics, we can tell you exactly what additional documents (if any) would help confirm sustainability, verify riders, and compare the policy against alternatives.

What Happens After You Submit Your Policy Review Request?

After you submit your request, we start by organizing your policy details into a simple summary: what you have, how it works, what’s guaranteed, and what changes (if any) are worth considering. The goal is to eliminate confusion and reduce “insurance fog” so you can make decisions with confidence.

We then evaluate your policy through three lenses. First: fit—does the policy match your current goal and timeline? Second: efficiency—are you overpaying relative to what the market typically offers for similar risk and structure? Third: risk—are there avoidable risks like a term cliff, a conversion deadline, sustainability concerns, or missing beneficiary updates?

If improvements are possible, we outline options in plain language. Sometimes it’s as simple as updating beneficiaries and confirming the policy is still solid. Sometimes it’s optimizing the structure with layering. Sometimes it’s exploring a conversion strategy before a deadline. And if replacement is worth considering, we explain the pros and trade-offs clearly and proceed only when the analysis supports it.

The best policy review outcomes feel practical, not dramatic. You should end the process with clarity, a plan, and a policy structure that fits your real life—not the version of life you had years ago.