I want my mortgage to be paid off if I die or become seriously ill - what sort of life insurance do you need?

First of all you need life insurance.

If you have a repayment mortgage you'll need Mortgage life Insurance (it's also known as Decreasing Term Life Insurance and Mortgage Protection Life Insurance.) If you have an Interest only mortgage, you'll need the standard form of life insurance, technically called Level Term Life Insurance.

Both these forms of life insurance usually include Terminal Illness cover. This means that the policy will pay out if you are diagnosed with an illness or condition from which you are expected to die within 12 months.

If you want your mortgage to be repaid if you are diagnosed with a serious illness such as heart attack, stroke, blindness and many others besides, you'll need Critical Illness Insurance. (1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women suffer a critical illness before their normal retirement age.)

You can add Critical illness cover to your life insurnce policy and this will be your cheapest option. In this case the policy will payout if you suffer a critical illness or die whilst the policy is in force.

However, if you want lump sum payouts both in the event you have a critical illness and in the event that you die, then you will need seperate Critical Illness and Life Insurance policies.