Case study

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Edward Firth is 35 and wants to take out life and critical illness cover. As a registered nurse, he earns £18,000 a year. He owns a home, which he shares with his daughter, aged 12. The outstanding mortgage, which is in his sole name and has 15 years left on the term, is £52,000. Edward also has savings of £11,000, most of which he inherited from his aunt last year. He is a non-smoker and healthy, but was diagnosed with epilepsy at 17. He has no more than three absence (petit mal) seizures a year, the last having been eight months ago. What options are available to him?

Kevin Carr, senior technical adviser, Lifesearch The underwriting issue here is the epilepsy. However, petit mal is the minor form of the condition and, at around three seizures a year, life cover should be easily obtainable without any loadings or exclusions. Critical illness (CI) cover and income protection (IP) should also both be available at normal rates. However, an epilepsy exclusion is likely to be applied. I would look to recommend accelerated life and CI cover for the sum of the mortgage – i.e. £52,000 over 15 years. On the assumption that this is a repayment mor...

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