Two answers matter here, and only one of them is about the life policy. The first is mechanical: Mutual of Omaha does not issue individual life coverage under its own name. Life policies come from United of Omaha Life Insurance Company in all states except New York and from Companion Life Insurance Company in New York, so the letterhead you have been calling may not be the company that owes the death benefit. The second is the decision that actually confronts most households in this situation — because Mutual of Omaha is one of the country’s largest long-term care insurers, a great many couples holding a life policy from the group are simultaneously holding an LTC policy whose premium has been increased, and they cannot comfortably fund both.
Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company is a mutual insurer headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska with roots reaching back to 1909. Its individual life lineup runs to term, whole life, universal life and indexed universal life, and we could not verify a currently marketed survivorship product in it. A two-insured, second-death contract from the group most likely belongs to an in-force block, which changes nothing about your rights and affects only how familiar the service representative will be with the contract form.
Below: how to confirm what you hold, how second-to-die contracts are valued, the life-versus-long-term-care decision framed honestly, and what to request before deciding anything.
In This Article
Identify the Issuing Company and the Contract Type
Read the declarations page for the issuing company name. United of Omaha Life Insurance Company covers all states except New York; Companion Life Insurance Company covers New York. That distinction determines which service department handles the file, which state’s insurance department regulates the issuer, and which contract forms apply. Correspondence addressed to the wrong entity is a common source of delay.
Then count. One policy number, two named insureds, one death benefit payable only at the second death is a true survivorship contract. Two policy numbers with two premium schedules means two single-life policies — a better position, since each can be evaluated separately and single-life contracts consistently price higher than survivorship contracts. A single insured with a spouse rider attached is a third possibility; riders are frequently misremembered as joint coverage years later, and they usually pay a smaller amount, may terminate at a stated age, and generally end if the base policy is surrendered.
Note the chassis too. A whole life contract shows guaranteed cash values and a fixed premium. A universal life contract shows an accumulation value assessed monthly for cost of insurance and expense charges, which is where policies quietly fail. And note the issue date: contracts are generally contestable for two years from issue and cannot be sold within that window.
How a Buyer Values a Second-to-Die Contract
A secondary-market buyer acquires a future death benefit and funds premiums until it arrives, so price turns on how tightly the arrival date can be estimated. Survivorship contracts widen that estimate in three directions simultaneously.
Both insureds require independent underwriting, and buyers commonly commission two life expectancy reports per insured — four reports on a single case, at real cost, before anyone knows whether a transaction exists. Joint-and-last-survivor mortality runs materially longer than either individual expectancy, because the relevant event is the later of two deaths; two insureds each carrying a twelve-year individual expectancy can produce a joint expectancy in the high teens. And fewer providers underwrite survivorship at all, so the auction is thin and clearing prices fall even where the underlying facts are identical.
On a universal life chassis there is a fourth uncertainty. Cost-of-insurance charges are assessed monthly per thousand dollars of net amount at risk at the insured’s attained age, so they rise every year and steepen sharply after 75, and the carrier retains discretion up to a guaranteed maximum table printed in the contract. A buyer projecting fifteen years of premiums has to assume the unfavorable end of that range.
The working thresholds: roughly $100,000 or more of death benefit, at least one insured 65 or older or health-impaired, and a projected horizon inside about fifteen years. When one insured has already died the contract functions economically as a single-life policy on the survivor and prices considerably better — see what changes after a first death.
The Decision These Households Actually Face
Here is the situation that brings most people from an Omaha household to this page. A couple in their late seventies holds a survivorship life policy bought for estate liquidity in the 1990s and a long-term care policy bought around the same time. The LTC premium has been increased — sometimes repeatedly — and the combined outlay no longer fits the budget. Something has to give.
Rank the two honestly rather than by which paperwork arrived most recently.
The long-term care policy usually wins. It insures a risk that is both more likely and more financially destructive than the one the life policy addresses. A couple in their late seventies faces a meaningful probability that at least one of them will need extended care, and private-pay nursing care runs well into six figures per year in most markets. Meanwhile the estate tax liability the survivorship policy was bought to fund frequently no longer exists at all. If you must choose, an in-force LTC policy from a carrier that is still paying claims is usually the more valuable contract, and dropping it after decades of premiums is very difficult to undo.
Before dropping either, ask about the middle options. LTC carriers seeking a rate increase are generally required to offer landing spots — reduced daily benefit, a shorter benefit period, a longer elimination period, or reduced or removed inflation protection — that lower the premium without terminating coverage. Some offer a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit equal to premiums paid. Our pages on responding to a long-term care premium increase and paying for care without LTC insurance lay out the choices.
The life policy has its own middle options. Reducing the face amount cuts the cost-of-insurance charge proportionally. Reduced paid-up ends premiums permanently in exchange for a smaller guaranteed benefit. And if the survivorship policy is genuinely unneeded and large enough, a secondary-market sale can produce a lump sum that funds several years of LTC premiums — which is often the most useful framing of the whole question. See how long-term care funding and life settlements compare.
| If you must choose between two premiums | Survivorship life policy | Long-term care policy |
|---|---|---|
| Risk it covers | A bill at the second death, often estate tax | Extended care costs during life |
| Likelihood the risk materializes | Certain, but the liability may no longer exist | Substantial for a couple in their late seventies |
| Cost if uninsured | Possibly zero under a $15 million federal exclusion | Six figures per year in most private-pay markets |
| Middle options short of dropping | Reduce face amount; reduced paid-up | Lower daily benefit, shorter period, longer elimination, reduced inflation |
| Replaceable later | Rarely, and never at the original price | Effectively no at advanced ages or with health changes |
| Can it produce cash | Possibly, through the secondary market if unneeded | Generally no; some policies have a nonforfeiture benefit |
When the Estate Purpose Simply Ended
Survivorship coverage funds a bill that arrives at the second death, usually estate tax or liquidity for illiquid assets. The federal estate and gift tax exclusion stands at $15 million per person for 2026 following the 2025 federal tax legislation, with portability effectively doubling it for a married couple against a 40% top rate. A policy bought in 1994 against a $600,000 exemption is very often insuring a liability that has ceased to exist.
Check the state layer before concluding. Nebraska imposes no estate tax but is unusual in maintaining an inheritance tax collected at the county level, with legislation effective in 2023 reducing the rates and broadening exemptions; life insurance proceeds payable to a named beneficiary generally fall outside the probate estate. Roughly a dozen other states impose their own estate or inheritance taxes, several at thresholds far below the federal figure. The calculation depends entirely on the state of domicile and belongs to your own estate planning attorney. See what an exemption change means for an existing policy.
Two other endings are worth naming. If the irrevocable trust that owns the policy exists only to hold a policy nobody needs, it is an annual administrative cost with no benefit. And if the coverage was funding a business succession arrangement that has since been unwound, the premium is simply an expense.
Trust Ownership and Who Signs
Most survivorship policies were issued to an irrevocable life insurance trust so the death benefit would sit outside both estates. If a trust owns yours, neither insured can sell it. The trustee holds title and must act within the trust instrument and applicable fiduciary law.
A defensible trustee process: confirm authority to dispose of trust assets; obtain an in-force illustration and a written valuation establishing that continued premiums no longer serve the beneficiaries; notify beneficiaries and, in most cases, obtain written consents; and sign the transaction documents as trustee. Our guide to selling an ILIT-owned policy sets out the sequence.
Diligence will examine the trust file, and Crummey notices are the recurring gap. Trusts funded with annual exclusion gifts were supposed to send each beneficiary a written notice of a withdrawal right every year, and in a large share of trusts those notices were never sent or never retained. Missing notices do not stop a transaction; they raise a gift tax question for the client’s own attorney and accountant. See what to do about missing Crummey notices.
What to Request, and In What Order
From the life carrier, in one signed letter to the correct issuing entity: an in-force illustration projecting values year by year at current charges and current crediting; the same projection at guaranteed maximum charges and guaranteed minimum crediting; the annual premium required to carry the policy to maturity; a written statement of how cost-of-insurance charges are computed before and after a first death; and the reduced paid-up amount available today. Allow three to six weeks on a legacy block.
From the long-term care carrier, if one is in the picture: the current premium, the full history of approved rate increases on your policy form, and every reduced-benefit landing spot available to you with the premium for each. Carriers seeking increases are generally required to present these options, but they are not always volunteered in a form that makes comparison easy.
Then compare. Put the annual cost of each contract next to what it protects and what it would take to replace it. Read what an in-force illustration shows so the life numbers mean what you think they mean.
If the survivorship policy is genuinely unneeded, roughly $100,000 or more in face amount, and on insureds who are 65 or older or health-impaired, a free, no-obligation review can price the secondary-market option against the cost of keeping it — and will tell you plainly when reducing or keeping the policy is the better answer. Send the policy cover page or call (305) 209-7183. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides educational information only and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice; estate tax exposure, trustee duties and long-term care planning belong to your own attorney and advisors, and product details should be confirmed with the issuing company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which company actually issued my Mutual of Omaha life policy?
Individual life coverage from the group is issued by United of Omaha Life Insurance Company in all states except New York, and by Companion Life Insurance Company in New York. Check the declarations page for the issuing entity, because that determines the service department, the applicable contract forms, and which state regulates the issuer.
Does Mutual of Omaha still offer survivorship coverage?
We could not verify a currently marketed survivorship product in the group’s individual life lineup, which centers on term, whole life, universal life and indexed universal life. A two-insured, second-death contract most likely belongs to an in-force block and remains fully enforceable on its original terms. Confirm the product name with the company.
Should I drop my long-term care policy to keep the life policy?
Usually the opposite. Long-term care insures a more likely and more financially destructive event, private-pay care runs well into six figures annually, and coverage cannot realistically be replaced at advanced ages. Meanwhile the estate tax liability many survivorship policies were bought to fund may no longer exist under current exclusions.
What are landing spots on a long-term care rate increase?
Reduced-benefit options a carrier offers so you can lower the premium without terminating coverage: a smaller daily benefit, a shorter benefit period, a longer elimination period, or reduced or removed inflation protection. Some policies also offer a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit. Ask for every option in writing with the premium for each.
Could selling the life policy fund the LTC premiums?
That is often the most useful framing. If the survivorship policy is genuinely unneeded, roughly $100,000 or more in face amount, and on insureds who are older or health-impaired, a lump sum from the secondary market can fund several years of long-term care premiums. Price both sides before deciding either.
Why do survivorship policies get lower offers?
Two insureds must be underwritten independently, joint-and-last-survivor mortality runs materially longer than either individual expectancy, and fewer providers bid on these cases. More premium years funded by the buyer, heavier discounting of the benefit, and a thin auction all push the clearing price down.
Our ILIT owns the life policy. Can we sell it ourselves?
No. The trustee holds title and must act with authority under the trust instrument and consistent with fiduciary duty, typically documenting a valuation and in-force illustration, notifying beneficiaries and obtaining written consents. The trust file, including the history of Crummey withdrawal notices, will be reviewed during diligence.
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Related Reading
- Can I Sell A Survivorship Life Policy
- Ltc Policy Premium Increase
- Ltc Hybrid Vs Life Settlement
- No Ltc Insurance Pay For Care
- Survivorship Policy First Death
- Sell Ilit Trust Owned Policy
- Crummey Notices Missing
- Estate Tax Exemption Change Policy
- What Is An In Force Illustration
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.