What Is A Joint Life Insurance Policy? 
A joint life insurance policy -LRB- also called a survivorship policy or second-to-die policy -RRB- is coverage on two lives . This is often used in estate planning when a policy will cover both the husband and the wife . At the death of the second person , the death benefit is paid to the heirs . The cost for the policy can be significantly less , because the insurance company knows that with a survivorship policy , the death benefit will most likely pay off years later than a non-survivorship policy . Another advantage of survivorship policies is that one person can be uninsurable . Some survivorship policies offer a first-to-die rider which pays out a portion of the death benefit at the first death . 