Waiting periods in NZ life and guaranteed acceptance insurance

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.

Guaranteed acceptance policies in New Zealand have an early period, often 24 months, but what it restricts depends on the product. Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death in its first 24 months and refunds all premiums for any other death. Quick Life, for its first 2 years, excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide, but pays for accidents and new illnesses.

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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.

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.

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.

"Waiting period" is the searcher's word. The wordings use others. Funeral Insurance calls it "the first 24-month Accidental Death only limitation". Quick Life calls it a "2-year wait period" and a "standdown period". Underwritten policies from other insurers usually have no blanket wait, because the insurer has already assessed your health, but they carry their own exclusions, such as the suicide periods covered below. In every case the early period is the insurer's response to accepting people without looking at their health. This page sets the clauses beside each other so the difference is visible. It is a contrast of wording, not a recommendation.

The two Momentum Life clauses side by side

	Funeral Insurance	Quick Life
Length	First 24 months from the cover start date	First 2 years from the start (and from a reinstatement or increase)
Accidental death	Paid, if death is a direct result of an accident and within 90 days of it	Paid
Death from an illness that started after the policy began	Not paid in the first 24 months	Paid
Death from a pre-existing condition	Not paid in the first 24 months (as is any non-accident death)	Not paid in the first 2 years
Suicide	No separate clause; any non-accident death in the window is not paid	Not paid in the first 2 years
Premium refund	All premiums for that person, for any non-accident death in the window	Premiums, for a pre-existing-condition death within the first 24 months when no claim is payable
Terminal illness	No terminal illness benefit	Not paid in the first 2 years if linked to a pre-existing condition or self-harm
What restarts it	An increase, or an added person, for that increase or person	An increase (increase portion only, not automatic 3% increases), a reinstatement, or cancelling and rejoining
After the window	Death from any cause is paid	Pre-existing conditions are covered, except specific conditions permanently excluded in the schedule

Sources: Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance Policy Wording and Quick Life Policy Wording.

The two lengths match but the contents do not. A natural-cause death from a brand-new illness is paid by Quick Life in its first 2 years and not by Funeral Insurance in its first 24 months. A death from heart disease that was treated before the policy started is refused by both in the window, with premiums returned in both cases. Accident is the one cause that both products pay in the window. It is also worth being exact about the accident test: Funeral Insurance pays the accidental death benefit, three times the benefit amount, where death occurs within 90 days of the accident.

Premiums can exceed the benefit on both products, and a funeral benefit may not meet a whole funeral. Fuller treatments of each clause: Funeral Insurance waiting periods and the two-year pre-existing exclusion.

What other New Zealand funeral insurers publish

Each insurer sets its own window. The following are from each provider's own pages, read on 20 October 2026.

Provider	Early window	Premiums returned on another cause of death
NZ Seniors and OneChoice (Pinnacle Life)	12 months, accidental death and accidental serious injury only	No; OneChoice says there is no refund after the cooling-off period
AA Life (Asteron Life)	24 months for non-accidental death and terminal illness	Yes, all premiums
Chubb Life	24 months	Yes, 100%
Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan	2 years, full benefit only for accidental death	Yes, 100%
Unity	A waiting period applies; the length is not stated	Not stated

Greenwich Life's QuickCover Life, a life product with no health questions, says existing conditions are not covered for the first two years, while accidents and new conditions are. Sources: NZ Seniors, OneChoice, AA Life, Chubb, Greenwich Life and Unity. Our funeral insurance comparison has the full table.

What underwritten cover does instead

With cover that asks health questions, the insurer decides up front. The terms offered can include a loading, an exclusion or a stand-down, set for the individual (Asteron). So there is usually no blanket wait for conditions the insurer has accepted. There is still a suicide exclusion: Fidelity and Chubb both exclude it for 13 months from the start, a reinstatement or an increase, and Quick Life's period is 24 months (Fidelity wording; Chubb wording). We have not confirmed the periods for other insurers. Our page on the suicide clause goes further, and our guide to life insurance exclusions lists the common ones.

Is there cover for seniors with no early period?

Among the guaranteed acceptance products we have read, every one has an early window of some kind. The shortest published window is 12 months at NZ Seniors and OneChoice, and they return no premiums if you die of another cause after the cooling-off period. Cover with health questions has no blanket early window for accepted conditions, but acceptance depends on your health and age. Momentum Life takes no new Funeral Insurance applicants over 75 and no Quick Life applicants over 65, so for someone older Momentum has no product to wait on; a licensed adviser can say what else is open. Our page on cover with no waiting period takes that question further.

What to do while the early period runs

Keep paying. A policy cancelled for unpaid premiums can be reinstated only by application, and Quick Life's 2 years start again from reinstatement.
Do not cancel and rejoin. It restarts the Quick Life period and refunds nothing paid so far.
Read the policy schedule inside the 30-day free look. You get a full refund if no claim has been made; after that, cancelling returns nothing.
Do not replace cover until the new policy is in force, and watch for new qualifying periods (FMA: Insurance).

Before you apply

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option among several. Momentum's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. 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. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Product pages: Funeral Cover and Quick Life. Basics: what guaranteed acceptance means. Hub: guaranteed acceptance.