Switching funeral insurance in New Zealand: what restarts and what you lose

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

Switching funeral insurance in New Zealand means cancelling one policy and buying another. The premiums you paid on the old policy are not returned, and the new policy starts its own early-death window: 24 months of accident-only cover with Momentum Life, AA Life and Chubb, and 12 months with NZ Seniors and OneChoice. Your age is also higher, so the new price usually is too.

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Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

Funeral insurance pays a set benefit to the beneficiary you name, and the guaranteed acceptance versions ask no health questions. Each one carries an early-death window instead, a period at the start of the contract when an illness death is not paid as a benefit. A different insurer is a different contract with a different start date, so that window begins again from day one. Nothing in the documents we read lets you carry time already served from one funeral policy to another. That is why a switch can leave a gap: for up to two years, an illness-related death may pay no benefit at all, even though you held funeral cover without a break for years before. Total premiums can also end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral, so a switch is worth doing only for a clear reason.

What switching actually does

There is no "transfer" button between funeral insurers. A switch is two separate steps:

You apply to the new insurer, which sets a new Acceptance Date and a new early-death window.
You cancel the old policy, which ends that cover.

Momentum Life's wording says you can cancel at any time by giving 30 days' notice, that you will need to reapply for cover if you change your mind, and that you lose the benefit of the premiums you have already paid. Premiums are returned in full only if you cancel inside the 30-day free look from the Acceptance Date and no claim has been made; the wording says there is no refund of premiums outside it (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording). If your old policy is with another insurer, its own cancellation terms apply, so read that wording before you act. Our cancelling funeral insurance page covers the cancellation side on its own.

What restarts and what is lost

	Old policy	New policy
Early-death window	Time already served counts only while the old policy stays in force	Starts again from the new Acceptance Date
Premiums already paid	Not refunded on cancellation after the free look (Momentum Life wording); you lose the benefit of them	Only premiums paid to the new insurer can be refunded, and only if its terms refund them
Entry age	The age you joined at	Your age now
Price	Fixed or set under the old terms	Set at the new insurer's current rates for your age
Cover amount	Whatever you built up	Whatever you choose, within the new insurer's limits
Health questions	None asked	None asked, which is why the window exists

Two details are easy to miss. Increasing cover with the same insurer is not a full restart: Momentum Life's wording applies a new 24-month accident-only limit to the increase or the added person, not to the cover you already hold. If the only reason to switch is more cover, raising the benefit is an alternative to look at first. And Momentum Life caps the total benefit at $30,000 per person across all of its funeral policies, so a second Momentum policy cannot push you above that.

What the family is paid if a death happens inside the new window

The new window decides what is paid, so check it before you cancel anything. Details below are from each provider's own pages, retrieved 17 to 20 October 2026.

New insurer	Accident-only window	Accidental death pays	Other death inside the window
Momentum Life	24 months	Three times the benefit	No benefit; all premiums for that person refunded
AA Life (Asteron Life)	24 months	Double	100% of premiums refunded
Chubb Life	24 months	The sum insured	100% of premiums refunded
NZ Seniors and OneChoice (Pinnacle Life)	12 months	Three times the benefit	OneChoice says you cannot get a refund of premiums after the cooling-off period; we found none on NZ Seniors either

A worked example, with round numbers for illustration only. Someone aged 72 has held a $10,000 policy for five years and cancels it to take a new $10,000 policy that has a 24-month window. They die of an illness eight months later. The old policy had been cancelled, so it pays nothing. The new policy, if it is Momentum Life's, pays no benefit and refunds the eight months of new premiums. Had they kept the old policy, the family would have received the $10,000. If the same person had died in an accident, the new policy would pay under its accident terms, which the early-death window does not affect.

Why the price often rises

A new policy is priced for the age you are when it starts. Momentum Life's wording also says that extra cover added later is priced on its premium rates at the time, not on the rates you were first given. Independent comparison sites show funeral cover prices roughly doubling between age 50 and age 70 (Moneyhub), so a switch late in life can cost noticeably more for the same amount. QuoteHub does not publish an exact premium for any insurer; ask each insurer for a written figure at your age and your amount.

Your options also narrow with age. Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance does not accept new applicants over 75; AA Life accepts up to 79, NZ Seniors and OneChoice up to 79, and Chubb up to 80. If you are close to a limit, cancelling a policy you already hold may mean you cannot buy another. See funeral insurance age limits for the bands.

When switching can make sense

None of these makes switching right on its own, but they are the usual reasons:

The old policy no longer fits. The benefit is too small, or the family who would be paid has changed, and raising the benefit with the same insurer is not possible.
Premiums have changed. Several funeral policies allow the insurer to change premiums for everyone on the plan, on 30 days' written notice. Check the new price at your current age before you assume a switch will be cheaper.
You have concerns about the insurer. Ratings are the usual starting point. A rating is an opinion on an insurer's ability to pay claims, not a recommendation, and agencies use different scales; see funeral insurance comparison for the ratings as at 20 October 2026.
You are paying for cover you cannot keep. If you are about to lapse the old policy anyway, the loss from starting again is smaller.
You are still early in the old window. If you are only a few months into the old policy, little time is lost.

Be cautious if the only reason is a lower advertised price. The price you are offered depends on your age today, and you give up the time you have served.

Checklist before you cancel your funeral insurance

Find the old policy's start date and window. Work out the date its early-death window ended, and what it pays now.
Check the new insurer will take you at your age. Entry ages differ, and there is no second chance if you cancel first.
Get the new price and terms in writing for the same age and amount, including whether premiums are refunded inside the window.
Apply for the new policy first. Do not cancel the old one until the new policy has been accepted.
Think about holding both until the new window ends. This keeps natural-death cover in place, but you pay two sets of premiums for up to two years, and they add to the total that can exceed the benefit. See multiple funeral policies for the caps.
Use the free look as a check, not a shortcut. With Momentum Life the 30 days run from the Acceptance Date and return your premiums, but they do not shorten the 24 months.
Cancel in writing and keep the confirmation. Allow for the old insurer's notice period (30 days with Momentum Life).
Update who knows. Tell your executor or family which policy now stands, and name beneficiaries on the new one. Momentum Life can pay only a natural person, not a funeral director.

If you are unsure

Compare the options on your own age and amount rather than on headline features. A licensed adviser can set out the old and new terms side by side. If it is a Momentum Life policy you are thinking about, the buttons on this page open Momentum's online application; QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum policy (see how we are paid). Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026, which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range (Momentum Life: Financial strength). Details are on the Momentum Life Funeral Cover page, and how funeral insurance works explains the basics. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Back to the funeral insurance hub.