What is a joint life policy?

• A. A policy that covers two or more lives with a single death benefit paid on the first death
• B. A policy that covers two or more lives with a single death benefit paid on the last surviving death
• C. A policy that covers two lives with a death benefit payable only upon the death of the insured
• D. A policy that covers only one life with multiple beneficiaries

Answer: (A)

Joint life policy covers two or more lives with a single death benefit payable at the first death among them. That means the payout happens when the first person dies and the policy ends after that, leaving the surviving insured without coverage under this contract. This contrasts with survivorship (second-to-die) policies, where the death benefit is paid only after both lives have died, which is often used for estate planning. The other descriptions don’t fit joint life: a policy paying on the death of a single insured is a standard individual life policy, and a plan on one person with multiple beneficiaries is still a single-life policy, just with several beneficiaries named.