Do You Still Need Life Insurance After 60 in BC?

This article walks through what actually happens to a British Columbian's money at death, where life insurance for seniors still earns its keep after 60, and where it honestly stops making sense. The short version: turning 60 doesn't change the answer by itself. What changes the answer is whether your death would leave a bill somebody else has to pay, and that is something you can estimate on paper.

Start with the bill, not with your birthday

Three things happen quietly when a Canadian dies, and most people past 60 have never seen them added up.

First, the tax rules treat you as having sold nearly everything. Subsection 70(5) of the Income Tax Act says a taxpayer "shall be deemed to have, immediately before the taxpayer's death, disposed of each capital property of the taxpayer and received proceeds of disposition therefor equal to the fair market value of the property immediately before the death." A cabin, a rental condo in New Westminster, a non registered portfolio: whatever gain has built up shows up on the final return.

Second, registered money gets pulled into income. Under subsection 146(8.8), the annuitant of an RRSP is deemed to have received a benefit equal to the fair market value of the plan at the time of death, with exceptions where amounts are receivable by a surviving spouse or common-law partner. A big RRIF can land in a single tax year, at rates the person never paid while alive.

Third, British Columbia charges a probate fee. Under the Probate Fee Act, no fee applies where the value of the estate is $25,000 or less. Above that, the fee is "$6 for every $1 000 or part of $1 000" by which the estate exceeds $25,000 up to $50,000, plus "$14 for every $1 000 or part of $1 000" above $50,000. On a $1.2 million estate that is about $16,250, roughly 1.35 per cent.

Now set that against what the public system contributes. The Canada Pension Plan death benefit is fixed by section 57 of the Canada Pension Plan at $2,500 for deaths after December 31, 2018. There is a $5,000 amount, but subsection 57(1.2) restricts it to deaths after December 31, 2024 where the contributor never received a retirement or disability pension and no survivor's pension is payable. If you're 60 or older and already drawing CPP, you are in the $2,500 group. In Metro Vancouver that doesn't go far.

Where coverage still does real work after 60

Life insurance after 60 usually stops being about replacing a paycheque and starts being about liquidity and fairness. It tends to earn its place when one of these is true:

• A tax bill will land on something nobody wants to sell. If the family cabin or the rental property carries a large accrued gain, the estate owes tax in cash. Insurance is one way to produce that cash so the asset doesn't have to be sold on a deadline.
• One spouse's income falls hard when the other dies. Statistics Canada's Deaths, 2024 release, published January 13, 2026, reported life expectancy at birth of 80.03 years for males and 84.29 years for females, with BC women at 85.07 years. Widowhood is common, and it often lasts years. Pension survivor percentages, the loss of one OAS payment, and the end of pension income splitting all bite at once.
• Debt didn't retire when you did. In a Statistics Canada study by Sharanjit Uppal, Debt and assets among senior Canadian families (2019), the share of senior families carrying debt rose from 27.4 per cent in 1999 to 42.0 per cent in 2016, the share with mortgage debt went from 7.7 to 13.9 per cent, and median debt among indebted senior families reached $25,000 in 2016 constant dollars.
• You want money to arrive fast, privately, and outside the estate. Section 65(1) of BC's Insurance Act provides that where a beneficiary is designated, the insurance money "is not part of the estate of the insured and is not subject to the claims of the creditors of the insured." Section 65(2) adds an exemption from execution or seizure while a designation in favour of a spouse, child, grandchild or parent is in effect.
• You want to leave something specific to someone specific. A named beneficiary is a clean way to equalize between children when the main asset is a house one of them lives in, or to fund a gift to a grandchild's RESP or a charity without complicating the will.

Where the case gets weaker, and you deserve to hear it

Plenty of people over 60 are carrying coverage that no longer has a job. If the mortgage is gone, the kids are established, your spouse is fully funded by pensions, RRIFs and TFSAs, and the estate is simple, then a premium is just an expense. Cancelling it may be the right call.

Cost is the other honest problem. Premiums are priced on age and health, so coverage bought at 65 costs meaningfully more than the same coverage bought at 45, and some health histories make new coverage limited or unavailable. Nobody can quote you a number from an article. That comparison, benefit versus lifetime premiums versus simply investing the difference, has to be done with your actual numbers.

What British Columbians actually carry

The industry data suggests coverage skews young. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Facts, 2025 Edition from the CLHIA reports average protection per insured household in British Columbia of $541,000, with a median policyholder age of 41. Nationally, average protection per household was $509,000, up from $483,000 in 2023, and 23 million Canadians hold about $6 trillion in coverage. Insurers paid $18.6 billion in life insurance benefits in 2024.

That median age of 41 is the interesting part. Most coverage is designed around mortgages and young children, which is exactly why the question needs re-asking at 60 rather than answered on autopilot.

What this doesn't tell you

• Averages are not your number. A $541,000 provincial average says nothing about what your household needs. Some people over 60 need nothing.
• The senior debt figures are dated. The strongest published breakdown runs 1999 to 2016. The newer Survey of Financial Security, 2023 (released October 29, 2024) reports median family net worth of $519,700 and median mortgage debt of $205,000 among the 39 per cent of families holding one, but it does not publish the same senior-specific debt shares, so the two are not directly comparable.
• Life expectancy at birth is not your life expectancy. Someone alive and well at 62 has already passed the risks folded into those averages.
• My probate arithmetic is illustrative. The Act defines value of the estate by reference to a Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Distribution, and property situated outside BC is treated differently. Your executor's actual figure will differ.
• Tax treatment has edges. A death benefit paid to a named individual beneficiary is generally not taxable income to that person, but corporate-owned policies, trusts, non-resident beneficiaries and policy dispositions during life all follow different rules. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional.
• Sources disagree on emphasis, not facts. Industry publications naturally frame a coverage gap; the statutes simply set out what is owed. Both are in here on purpose.

One practical BC note: anyone selling you life insurance in this province must be licensed, and you can check that yourself through the Insurance Council of BC licensee directory before you sign anything.

Sources

• Government of Canada. *Income Tax Act*, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.), s. 70(5). laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
• Government of Canada. *Income Tax Act*, s. 146(8.8). laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
• Government of Canada. *Canada Pension Plan*, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-8, s. 57. laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
• Province of British Columbia. *Probate Fee Act*, S.B.C. 1999, c. 4. BC Laws
• Province of British Columbia. *Insurance Act*, R.S.B.C. 2012, c. 1, s. 65. BC Laws
• Statistics Canada. "Deaths, 2024," *The Daily*, January 13, 2026. statcan.gc.ca
• Uppal, Sharanjit. "Debt and assets among senior Canadian families," *Insights on Canadian Society*, Statistics Canada catalogue 75-006-X, 2019. statcan.gc.ca
• Statistics Canada. "Survey of Financial Security, 2023," *The Daily*, October 29, 2024. statcan.gc.ca
• Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association. *Canadian Life and Health Insurance Facts, 2025 Edition*. clhia.ca
• Insurance Council of British Columbia. Licensee directory and consumer information. insurancecouncilofbc.com

*This article summarises published rules and research for general information, is current as of August 20, 2026, and is not personalized financial, tax or legal advice.*

If you're in Burnaby or anywhere across Metro Vancouver and you'd like someone to actually run these numbers with you, book a free no-pressure call with Milo. He's an independent broker, he compares Canada's major insurers rather than representing one, and he speaks English and Tagalog. Sometimes the honest recommendation is to keep what you have, change it, or drop it entirely. You'll get a straight answer either way.