Most commonly, policyholders will name their spouse and/or their children as beneficiaries of their life insurance, with other family members an option for the unmarried and childless. Beneficiaries are not limited to family - a business partner is also a popular option.

A joint-life policy is a popular and often less expensive option for couples which covers the two of them simultaneously. This type of policy may be in a first-death form - where the benefit is paid out on the death of the first of the two to die to the surviving partner - or a last-survivor form, where the benefit is paid to the beneficiary, usually the children, after both partners die.

Spouses may also take out life-of-another policies on each other; a husband may take out insurance on the life of his wife, and vice versa. Life-of-another policies require that you prove an insurable interest in the person whose life you are insuring; however, spouses are assumed automatically to have an insurable interest in each other's lives.