Article
When the term runs out
Reviewed July 2026
What happens by default
Coverage ends. You get nothing back, because you were buying protection for a period and the period is over, exactly as priced.
Some policies then enter an annually renewable phase where coverage continues without new underwriting but the premium reprices each year at your current age. These renewal rates are steep and climb fast. They exist as a bridge, not a plan.
Your four options
Let it lapse. Correct if the need genuinely ended — the mortgage is cleared, the children are independent, your retirement assets can carry your spouse.
Renew annually. Expensive, but it requires no underwriting, which makes it the right answer if your health has deteriorated to the point where new coverage is unavailable or heavily rated.
Convert to permanent. If your policy has a conversion privilege, you can switch to permanent coverage without new underwriting. Health is irrelevant to the conversion, which is the entire value of the feature.
Buy a new term policy. Usually the cheapest option if you are still in good health, but you are applying at your current age, which means substantially higher rates than you were paying.
Why the conversion privilege matters more than it seems
Conversion is the feature people ignore when buying and desperately want later. It lets you keep coverage regardless of what has happened to your health, because the insurer already accepted the risk when they issued the term policy.
The catch is that conversion privileges have deadlines — often expiring at a set age, or partway through the term rather than at the end. If your policy has one, find out now when it lapses and put the date in a calendar.
If you are buying a policy today, ask whether it is convertible and until when. It costs little or nothing and it is the closest thing to an option on your own insurability.
Decide three to five years early
The worst version of this is discovering your options in the final month, when you are older, possibly in worse health, and out of time.
Three to five years out, run the numbers again. Is there still someone financially dependent on you? Is there debt outstanding? What would your household actually need?
If the answer is that you still need coverage, that is the window to apply for new coverage while the old policy is still in force. Never cancel existing coverage before the replacement is issued and paid — the gap between the two is precisely where things go wrong.
If your health has changed
Exercise the conversion privilege if you have one and it is still open. It is the only route that does not care about your medical history.
If you do not, apply through a marketplace rather than direct. Underwriting appetite varies widely by condition, and being rated by one insurer says little about how another would treat the same file.
General information, not insurance advice. Product details change — confirm anything material directly with the carrier.