Can You Sell an F&G (Fidelity & Guaranty) Survivorship (Second-to-Die) Policy? (2026)

Which F&G Company, and Which Product Line?

F&G Annuities & Life is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, and is majority-owned by Fidelity National Financial, the title insurance group; F&G shares began trading separately on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2022 after a partial distribution, with FNF retaining majority control. The insurance subsidiaries carry the Fidelity & Guaranty Life name, and the company’s American history stretches back well before the modern branding, through ownership changes that included Old Mutual and HRG Group.

Two implications for a policyholder. First, read the exact issuing company name from your cover page, because contracts issued across those eras carry different names and, occasionally, different service centers. Second, and more important on a survivorship case: identify the product type. F&G’s individual life emphasis has been indexed universal life, and survivorship designs are a specialty estate-planning niche. As of 2026, confirm with the carrier whether your specific survivorship product is still open or is an in-force block being administered in runoff, rather than assuming from old marketing material. If your other F&G coverage is single-life, see selling an F&G indexed universal life policy or an F&G universal life policy.

The Indexed Funding Problem, Layered on Top of Survivorship

Indexed universal life credits interest based on a formula tied to an index, subject to caps, participation rates, and floors that the carrier can adjust within contract limits. When crediting comes in below the rate used in the original illustration, the policy’s account value grows more slowly than planned, cost of insurance charges consume more of it, and the premium required to carry the contract to maturity rises — sometimes years after everyone stopped paying attention.

On a survivorship indexed contract, that risk compounds. The projected holding period is already long because the benefit waits on the second death, and a longer horizon means more years for underfunding to bite. This is why the in-force illustration is not optional paperwork on these cases: it is the document that tells you and any buyer what premium the policy actually needs, at several assumed crediting rates, to stay in force to age 100 and beyond. Ask for guaranteed-basis and current-basis scenarios both. See what indexed universal life is, what an in-force illustration is, and what to do when universal life costs increase.

Why Two Lives Means a Lower Number

A survivorship policy pays a single death benefit after the second of two insureds has died. A buyer valuing it must estimate how long that will take, fund the premiums until then, and discount the benefit to present value.

Estimating it requires life expectancy reports on both insureds, and then a joint-mortality model, because the payout waits on whichever life runs longer. The healthier or younger insured therefore drives the pricing. Pair an impaired 81-year-old with a healthy 76-year-old and the projection tracks the 76-year-old, adding years of premium outlay and years of discounting. That is the structural reason second-to-die offers land below single-life offers on the same face amount, and why fewer providers bid: some do not underwrite joint-life risk at all.

Market-wide reference points still frame the outer edges. Sellers have historically received roughly 10% to 35% of face value, and the US Government Accountability Office’s market study (GAO-10-775) found settlement proceeds averaging about four to eight times cash surrender value. Survivorship cases cluster at the low end, and a meaningful share receive no offer. Read why some policies get no offers before you build expectations.

When the Coverage Is No Longer Doing Any Work

• The estate-tax reason evaporated. Most survivorship policies were bought to create liquidity for a tax bill at the second death. Exemption levels have moved substantially, and many estates are no longer exposed. Confirm the applicable figure with a tax professional; see how exemption changes affect an existing policy.
• The ILIT has no remaining function. A trust built solely to hold this policy outside a taxable estate becomes an administrative expense once that estate is no longer taxable.
• One insured has died. The policy persists; the economics change completely.
• The business purpose closed out. Buy-sell and succession funding ends when the arrangement does, but the billing does not stop by itself.
• The premium became unaffordable. Especially likely on an indexed contract that underperformed its illustration. See paying premiums on a fixed income.

Policy Characteristic	Helps Value	Hurts Value
Number of insureds	One remaining after a first death	Two living insureds
Health of the healthier insured	Significant impairments	Excellent health and long projected life
Required premium	Low relative to face amount	Rising due to underperforming crediting
Face amount	$100,000 and above	Small face amounts few buyers will review
Outstanding policy loan	None	Loan approaching account value
Policy age	Well past two years from issue	Inside the contestability window

After the First Death: Re-Run Everything

When one insured dies, a survivorship contract does not pay a claim, but it does become, in economic terms, a single-life policy on the survivor. Only one death now stands between the owner and the benefit, the joint-mortality discount disappears, and value typically improves.

Handle the sequence properly. Notify the carrier of the death as the contract requires. Then request a new in-force illustration reflecting a single remaining insured — on an indexed survivorship design, the cost-of-insurance structure and the required premium can change materially at that point, and an illustration run before the death will be actively misleading. Only with the new numbers in hand is it worth evaluating offers. Our page on survivorship policies after the first death covers the details.

Trust Ownership and the Trustee’s Decision

If an irrevocable life insurance trust owns the policy — the standard design for survivorship coverage — the trustee sells it, not the insureds. That trustee owes fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries, which means the decision needs a defensible rationale, not just a preference.

Buyers will request the complete trust instrument with amendments, documentation of the currently serving trustee including successor appointments, and confirmation the trust authorizes disposing of property. Some trusts require beneficiary consent or notice; some name a trust protector. A trustee facing an underperforming indexed survivorship policy has a genuine question to answer: is continuing to fund a contract that may not reach maturity better for the beneficiaries than converting it to cash today? That analysis belongs in the trust file. See a trustee’s duty on an underperforming policy and selling an ILIT-owned policy.

Crummey Notices, Contestability, and Timing

Two procedural points close out the checklist. ILITs funded by annual exclusion gifts depend on Crummey withdrawal notices sent to beneficiaries with each contribution, and those notices are frequently missing after decades of informal administration. They rarely stop a transaction, but they slow diligence and raise gift-tax questions for your own attorney to answer. See missing Crummey notices.

Separately, every life policy carries a two-year contestability period from issue, during which the insurer may investigate and rescind for material misstatement in the application. Buyers will not accept that exposure, so a recently issued policy must season. The clock runs from issue for both insureds and does not restart on a death. Realistically, plan on 60 to 120 days from application to funded payment, with medical records for two insureds as the usual bottleneck, and insist that funds be held by an independent escrow agent until the ownership change is confirmed. See the contestability period and how escrow works.

Rank the Options Before You Commit

Selling is one of four honest answers, and it is not the default. Keep the policy if the death benefit still funds a real obligation and the premium is sustainable. Restructure it — many indexed and universal contracts allow lowering the face amount, which can cut the required premium enough to make the policy affordable again without giving anything up in a sale; see settlement versus lowering the death benefit. Surrender if the contract is small or heavily loaned; it pays cash surrender value, which is the floor any offer must exceed. Sell only when a written offer clears that floor by a margin that justifies the process.

Small survivorship policies, and policies where a loan has consumed most of the account value, are the two profiles that most often draw nothing. A free review will place your contract into the right category quickly and at no cost. Send the policy cover page or call (305) 209-7183.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does F&G have to approve the sale?

No. The policy is property owned by you or by the trust holding it, and it can be transferred without insurer consent. F&G’s role is to record the change of owner and beneficiary after closing. Pine Lake is not affiliated with F&G or Fidelity National Financial.

My F&G policy is indexed. Does that change the analysis?

It adds a funding question. Indexed universal life credits interest through a formula with caps and participation rates, and when crediting falls short of the original illustration the required premium rises. On a survivorship contract, where the payout waits on the second death, that shortfall has more years to compound. Request a current in-force illustration on both guaranteed and current bases.

Why do second-to-die policies get lower offers?

Because nothing is paid until both insureds have died. Buyers must underwrite two life expectancies and model joint mortality, and the payout follows whichever insured lives longer. That lengthens the expected holding period, raises the premium the buyer must fund, and lowers present value, while narrowing the set of buyers willing to bid.

One of the two insureds has died. What now?

Notify the carrier, then request a new in-force illustration reflecting a single remaining insured. The contract now prices like a single-life policy on the survivor, which usually improves its value, but the premium requirement can also change at that point. Evaluate offers only against the updated numbers.

How much could a survivorship policy be worth?

Market-wide, sellers have historically received roughly 10% to 35% of face value, with the GAO study finding average proceeds of about four to eight times cash surrender value. Survivorship cases generally land at the lower end of those ranges and some attract no offers at all. Only a review of the actual contract answers it.

Our trust owns the policy. Can the trustee sell it?

Usually, if the trust instrument grants authority to dispose of trust property and the trustee documents why selling serves the beneficiaries better than keeping or surrendering. Buyers will want the full trust document, proof of the serving trustee, and any required beneficiary consents. Involve the drafting attorney early.

Would lowering the death benefit be better than selling?

Sometimes. Many universal and indexed contracts allow reducing the face amount, which lowers the cost of insurance charges and can make the premium affordable again while keeping coverage in place. It is worth pricing that option with the carrier before starting a sale process.

What do I send to get started?

The policy cover page is enough for a free, no-obligation review. It shows the issuing company, policy number, face amount, issue date, owner, and both insured names. If you would rather talk it through first, call (305) 209-7183.

Related Reading

• Can I Sell A Survivorship Life Policy
• Sell My Fidelity Guaranty Indexed Universal Policy
• Sell My Fidelity Guaranty Universal Life Policy
• What Is Indexed Universal Life
• What Is An In Force Illustration
• Survivorship Policy First Death
• Trustee Duty Underperforming Policy
• Crummey Notices Missing
• Life Settlement Vs Lowering The Death Benefit
• What Is The Contestability Period

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Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.