Who can I add to my funeral policy?
Sanlam Indie Funeral Cover allows you to add up to 20 additional family members (so that’s 21 including yourself).
Funeral insurance isn’t underwritten, which means there are no medical checks. You’ll need to tell us the full names and South African ID numbers of the people you want to add to your policy, as well as their relationship to you.
Can I just get cover for my family and not myself?
We don’t offer funeral cover on other lives unless the policyholder (that’s you) also insures their own life in some way. You can either get personal funeral insurance or life insurance from Sanlam Indie to be able to add Sanlam Indie Funeral Cover. The good news is, we’ve got a whole range to choose from 🎉.
Who can I cover?
You can buy funeral cover for yourself up to 60 years old, and any additional lives can be up to 85 years old. Once you have your policy, we'll continue to cover you as you age.

You can add your:
- Spouse (husband or wife)
- Child (biological or adopted son or daughter, or the child of your spouse)
- Parent (biological or adopted mother or father)
- Step-parent (your mother or father’s spouse)
- Parent-in-law (your spouse’s parent)
- Daughter-in-law (your child’s wife)
- Son-in-law (your child’s husband)
- Sister (biological or adopted sister, or step-sister)
- Brother (biological or adopted brother, or step-brother)
- Sister-in-law (female spouse of your brother or sister)
- Brother-in-law (male spouse of your brother or sister)
- Niece (daughter of your brother or sister)
- Nephew (son of your brother or sister)
- Aunt (sister of your parent, or your aunt/uncle’s wife)
- Uncle (brother of your parent, or your aunt/uncle’s husband)
- First cousin (your aunt or uncle’s child)
- First cousin’s child
- Grandparent (parent of your parent: your grandmother or grandfather)
- Grandparent-in-law (grandparent of your spouse)
- Great grandparent (parent of your grandparent)
- Great grandparent-in-law (grandparent of your spouse)
- Grandchild (your child’s child)
- Great grandchild (your grandchild’s child)
What counts as married?
Your spouse is your husband or wife by marriage. You must be married to this person already when you take out the policy.
Sanlam considers a marriage to be when two people are:
- Married according to the laws of any sovereign country;
- Married according to customary or tribal law;
- Married under any religion that is practiced in South Africa;
- Living together and financially dependent on one another for at least 6 months; or
- Party to a civil union in terms of the Civil Union Act, 2006.
I live with my boyfriend/girlfriend. Can I add them to my policy?
Yes, if you have been living together and are financially dependent on one another for at least 6 months when you take out the policy. You can add them to your policy as “spouse”.
Can I cover my spouse’s family?
You can cover your spouse’s parents and grandparents, and any children your spouse may have from another relationship.
However, you can’t cover your spouse’s siblings (their brothers or sisters) and their families. Your spouse would need to take out a new policy, in their own name, to cover their siblings and their sibling’s families.
What are the Funeral Cover limits?
When you first take out a policy, we’ll limit the cover you can have on each life:
- Children and adults aged 15 to 85 years – R50,000 each
- Children aged 7-14 – R25,000 each
- Children aged 0-6 years – R10,000 each
This cover doubles after 3 years without any increase to your monthly premiums. So after 36 months your cover will be:
- Children and adults aged 15 to 85 years – R100,000 each
- Children aged 7-14 – R50,000 each
- Children aged 0-6 years – R20,000 each
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