Life insurance in Greece:
term cover, mortgages and beneficiaries.

Updated 26 October 2026Reading time 10 minBy Leadinsure, registered insurance agent (no. ΧΑΝ/395) · How we are paid

Life insurance pays an agreed sum to the people you name if you die while the policy is in force. In Greece it is governed by Law 2496/1997 on insurance contracts, which sets no condition of nationality or residence: whether you are accepted, and on what terms, is up to each insurer. For most expats with a family or a mortgage, the useful product is term cover: protection for a set number of years, sized to your debts and to the income your family would lose. With a Greek mortgage, the bank can ask for life cover but must accept an equivalent policy from another insurer (Law 4438/2016, art. 11(3)).

This guide explains the types of cover, what foreigners are asked, how to work out the sum, how beneficiaries are named and how a claim is paid. It gives no premiums, because they depend on your age, health and the cover you choose.

How does life insurance work in Greece?

You, the policyholder, pay the premiums. If the insured person dies while the policy is in force, the insurer pays the sum insured to the beneficiaries you have named. Usually you insure your own life, but you can also insure someone else’s, for example your partner’s: the law then needs their written consent, or the cover is void (Law 2496/1997, art. 28(2)). Life cover is a fixed-sum insurance: the agreed amount is paid whatever the actual financial loss (art. 27(5)). So a policy through your employer, a personal policy and a mortgage policy can all pay out together.

Term, whole life and savings plans

Term cover is the simplest way to protect a family: you insure a large sum for the years it is needed, without paying for a savings element. Plans that save and protect at the same time are harder to judge, so ask for the protection and the savings parts to be shown separately.

Riders: cover you can add

• Accidental death: an extra sum if death is caused by an accident.
• Permanent total disability: a lump sum if an illness or an accident leaves you permanently unable to work, as the policy defines it.
• Critical illness: a lump sum while you are alive, on the diagnosis of a condition on the policy’s list, such as certain cancers, a heart attack or a stroke.
• Waiver of premium: the insurer keeps paying your premiums if you become unable to work.

Names and definitions differ between insurers. The definition of disability matters most: a policy that pays only if you cannot do any work is narrower than one that pays if you cannot do your own job. Read the wording, not just the name of the cover.

What the law itself excludes

• Suicide in the first two years: the insurer must pay after a suicide only if at least two years have passed since the contract was made, and the same applies to any later increase in the sum insured (Law 2496/1997, art. 30(1)).
• A beneficiary who causes the death: a beneficiary who intentionally caused the insured person’s death, or tried to, loses the right to the payout (art. 30(2)).
• War and radiation: unless the policy says otherwise, there is no cover where the death results directly from acts of war or ionising radiation (art. 27(2)).

Policies can add their own exclusions, for example for dangerous sports or occupations, so read that list before you sign.

Can foreigners buy life insurance in Greece?

Yes, in principle. Law 2496/1997, which governs insurance contracts in Greece, sets no condition of nationality or residence. In practice it depends on the insurer: each one decides whom it accepts and on what terms. These are the questions you are likely to meet:

How to get an AFM is explained in our guide to the AMKA, the social security number you may also need if you work here. If you live in Greece on a residence permit, the insurance the permit rules ask for is health insurance: see health insurance for a residence permit.

The health questionnaire: what the law says

Before the contract, you must tell the insurer every fact you know that is objectively material to the risk, and answer its questions (Law 2496/1997, art. 3(1)). Where the insurer asked clear written questions, those facts are presumed to be the only ones that matter to it. For life cover, the law protects honest mistakes:

• The insurer cannot rely on gaps or flaws in your questionnaire answers unless they were intentional (art. 3(2)).
• The rules that let an insurer end or change a contract, or cut a claim in proportion, after an innocent or careless omission do not apply to life insurance (art. 3(8)).
• A deliberately false answer is different: the insurer can end the contract within one month of finding out (art. 3(6)), and the policyholder is then entitled only to the policy’s surrender value (art. 29(2)). A pure term policy may have no surrender value at all.
• A wrong date of birth counts as material if your true age is outside the limits of the insurer’s tariff when cover starts (art. 29(1)).
• Once the policy has started, you do not have to report that your health has got worse: the law’s rules on an increase in the risk do not apply to life insurance (art. 4(3)).

So answer every question fully and truthfully, including about conditions you are being treated for. If you are not sure what a question means, ask before you sign.

Your documents and your right to change your mind

Before you sign, the insurer must give you written information on each cover, the term, how premiums are paid, the estimated surrender values and how far they are assured, general information on the tax arrangements, and how to complain. It must be in Greek, or in another language if you ask for it (Law 4364/2016, art. 152). After an individual life policy is concluded, you have 30 days to withdraw, counted from when you learn that it was concluded. The insurer can keep one monthly premium for the main cover and one twelfth of the annual premium for any riders. This does not apply to policies of six months or less (art. 153).

Life cover for a Greek mortgage: can you choose the insurer?

Yes. Law 4438/2016 covers loans secured by a mortgage or a mortgage pre-notation on residential property, and loans to buy or keep property rights in land or a building (art. 2). Under art. 11(3), the lender may ask you to hold an insurance policy linked to the loan. It must then accept a policy from a provider other than the one it prefers, if that policy gives an equivalent level of guarantee to the one the lender proposed. The same article bans tying, that is, offering the loan only together with another product, with narrow exceptions (art. 11(1) and (2)).

Life cover is not a general legal requirement for a mortgage: it is a condition the lender may set, and the loan offer and agreement will say so if it does. Insuring the home itself against fire and earthquake is a separate question, covered in our guide to home insurance in Greece.

How to use a policy from another insurer

1. Get the lender’s requirements in writing: which risks (death only, or permanent disability too), the sum, the term, and whether the bank must be named as beneficiary or the policy assigned to it.
2. Ask for proposals for exactly that cover, so they can be set side by side with the bank’s own plan.
3. Choose decreasing or level cover. A decreasing sum follows the loan balance and usually costs less. A level sum leaves your family the difference between the sum and what is still owed.
4. Answer the health questionnaire accurately and do any tests the insurer asks for.
5. Sign the assignment or beneficiary form in favour of the bank, and hand it in with the policy, normally before the loan is paid out. If the policy is on someone else’s life, for example a co-borrower’s, the assignment also needs that person’s written consent (Law 2496/1997, art. 28(2)).
6. If you are replacing a policy, cancel the old one only after the bank has accepted the new one in writing.

If the lender refuses a policy you consider equivalent, ask for the refusal and its reasons in writing, referring to art. 11(3) of Law 4438/2016.

Joint borrowers

With a joint loan, ask whether each borrower can be insured for the whole balance or only for a share. Cover for the whole balance on each life costs more, but if one of you dies the loan is cleared. Cover for a share leaves the survivor with the rest of the debt.

Consumer loans from 20 November 2026

For most consumer loans of up to €100,000 that are not secured on property, Law 5317/2026 brings a similar rule. A lender that requires insurance must accept a policy you choose if its cover is equivalent, without worsening the loan terms, and the insurance cannot be concluded until three working days after you receive the information, unless you ask in writing for it sooner (art. 16). The rules apply from 20 November 2026 (art. 143); loan agreements already in force on that date stay under the old rules (art. 64).

Keep your policy from home, or buy one here?

If you already have life cover in another country, do not cancel it just because you have moved. First check whether it still works for your life in Greece. There is no single right answer, but these are the points to check:

A new policy is underwritten on your age and health today, so a policy you took out when you were younger can be worth more than it looks. If you do switch, cancel the old cover only once the new one is in force.

Insurers licensed in other EU countries can also sell policies in Greece. The Bank of Greece keeps a register of insurance undertakings that lists them, with the country that licensed them and whether they work in Greece through a branch or under the freedom to provide services. Check it before you rely on a policy sold to you for Greece.

How much cover do you need? A simple calculation

Start from what your family would need, not from a round number. A simple method:

1. Debts to clear: the mortgage balance and any other loans.
2. Income to replace: the yearly net income your family relies on, multiplied by the number of years they would need it, for example until your youngest child finishes education.
3. Large future costs: such as your children’s education.
4. Minus what is already there: savings, life cover through your employer and other life policies.

The figures are only an illustration: use your own. Two more choices shape the policy:

• The term: long enough to cover the loan and the years in which your family depends on your income.
• One policy or two: a decreasing policy for the mortgage and a level policy for the family can match your needs more closely than one large policy. Because each life policy pays its own agreed sum (Law 2496/1997, art. 27(5)), the sums add up; declare the policies you already have when you apply.

If nobody depends on your income and you have no debts, life cover may matter less than disability or critical illness cover, which pay you while you are alive.

Beneficiaries and how a claim is paid

Naming your beneficiaries

• You name beneficiaries in a written statement, and you can change it at any time (Law 2496/1997, art. 28(3)). Use their full names, and update the statement after a marriage, a divorce or a birth.
• If you name nobody, or the person you named refuses the payout, you are treated as the beneficiary and the payout becomes part of your estate (art. 28(4)), shared out under the rules of inheritance.
• If you insure another person’s life and name someone else as beneficiary, the insured person must agree in writing (art. 28(2)).
• If you have heirs or property in more than one country, ask a lawyer how your choice of beneficiaries fits your will.

How a claim is paid

1. Tell the insurer as soon as possible, with the policy number.
2. Send the documents it asks for. These usually include the death certificate, the policy, the beneficiaries’ identity documents and bank details, and medical reports on the cause of death. Each insurer sets its own list.
3. The insurer checks the claim against the policy and the health answers given at the start, then pays the beneficiaries. Where the policy is assigned to a bank, the bank is paid first.

Claims under life and other personal insurance become time-barred five years from the end of the year in which they arose (Law 2496/1997, art. 10), so do not let a claim wait. Tell your beneficiaries that the policy exists and where to find it: a policy nobody knows about may never be claimed.

How to get a life insurance quote in Greece

Leadinsure is an insurance agency (registered insurance agent) for individuals and businesses. We ask the insurers we work with for life insurance proposals and explain them side by side: the sum, the term, the riders, the exclusions and what the health questions mean. For a mortgage, we ask for exactly the cover your bank requires and help with the assignment documents. You do not need to visit our office: we handle everything by phone and email. You pay us no separate fee: our commission is already included in the premium. To prepare an accurate proposal, please send us:

• the date of birth of each person to be insured, and whether they smoke;
• where you live, and since when you have lived in Greece;
• your occupation, and any dangerous sports or hobbies;
• the sum and the term you have in mind, and whether you want riders such as disability or critical illness cover;
• for a mortgage, the bank’s written requirements and the loan amount and term;
• any life policies you already have.

Use our quote page, email info@leadinsure.gr or call +30 28210 86065. We reply within 24 hours on working days, with no obligation. Our office is open Monday to Friday 09:00–16:00 and 17:30–20:30, and Saturday 09:00–14:00, Greek time. For hospital and medical cover, see our guide to health insurance in Greece.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

The laws, decisions and official pages we checked for this guide. Many of them are in Greek.