Things happen in this world that we have no control over and sometimes life gets in the way. When this happens we may stop doing things that we would normally take care of right away, like paying the premiums on our life insurance policies and so forth. The fact is that this can happen to anyone and what happens when we stop paying our life insurance premiums is what matters the most. There are several things that can and will happen and it all depends on the way that the policy is set up. There is no one way to determine the exact outcome because of the many factors that come into play. You will need some baseline knowledge to understand how to handle such an occurrence.
The most basic life insurance policy is similar in nature to the other types of insurance policies that you have. The basic idea is that you must keep paying to keep the policy active. If you stop paying the premiums the policy is no longer valid and no pay out will be made if you were to pass on. This is just like the other types of insurance that you have, as they require the payments to be kept current in all situations. The difference is that there are certain clauses built into life insurance policies that will help you get out of such a bind.
Asking for help from the life insurance company that you are with is the best course of action to take. They will be of the utmost help to you and they can work directly with the policy to make sure that certain things are taken care of. In most cases there is a period of grace that is given for the payment of the premium. So if you have a month where the payment is late for one reason or another you will probably have at least two weeks to make sure the payment arrives before there are any adverse effects on the policy itself. This is very common among insurance companies as they are aware that certain things can come up.
If the premiums on your life insurance policy go into default then there are certain things about the policy that you should understand. For one thing there is a dormant period when the payments are not made. This means that there is a time frame when the policy is still available but not active and if the payments are made then the policy will be reactivated for you. Most people believe that once they default the policy is gone for good but this would not be in the best interest of the life insurance company at all. They will do everything in their power to make sure that you continue to have coverage through them.