What Happens If I Stop Paying Life Insurance Premiums? 
If you stop paying life insurance premiums for Term life insurance , your policy will lapse after a one month grace period . There will be no penalty charged and you will receive no money back , unless you took out Return of Premium -LRB- ROP -RRB- Term insurance , in which you may be able to get some of your premiums back if you kept the policy long enough . If you stop paying premiums on Whole Life or Universal Life , the cash value of the policy may continue to pay the premiums for a while . If you want to take the cash out , you need to notify the life insurance company or your agent that you are dropping your policy . And once that runs out , your policy will lapse -LRB- quit providing coverage -RRB- . 