My father in law is a retired insurance agent and clearly not as knowledgeable as I thought he was. He still does work part time and we have all our insurance policies through him (Prudential).

The thing I need to know is....can you hace co-applicants on a life insurance policy for a child? My husband has much more insurance then me and I only have $150,000. We opened a $50,000 policy for my daughter 5 years ago for my daughter. My father in law told me then that my husband had to be the applicant of the policy because I did not have enough insurance (NY requires 4 times the amount on parent then is taken out on the child). I didn't thinmmuch of it until now. It has been a problem when I call to check on things as I am not an owner of the policy so they will not speak with me.

We are now opening a $50,000 policy for my son and my father in law needs to put my husband as the owner again. I'm thinking there must be some hidden reasons why my father in law wants only his son's name stated in the policy.

Basically what my husband and I keep asking my father in law is if we can be co applicants and both own the policy. He tells us that he does not know and I still have no answers.

Hi Sharon,

I understand your concern here. You want to be able to service the policy on your daughter, but you are not authorized to do so, because you are not an owner.

I have not heard of a policy allowing for two applicants, but I do have some options for you.

(1) Co-Ownership. Both owners would have the authority to service the policy.

(2) Transfer of ownership to you. I do not think the ratio of 4-to-1 coverage (parent-to-child) would prohibit this.

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