What documents should I gather before any review of my policy?
Seven, and the insurer holds copies of most of them. The contract as issued, with every rider and endorsement. The illustration you were shown before purchase. The most recent annual statement. A current in force projection. The statement of any balance outstanding. Every change form signed since issue. And written confirmation of who is recorded as owner and beneficiary today.
What kind of answer this is
- Claim type: Contract fact
- Claim type: Professional judgment
- Jurisdiction: Canada wide
That these documents exist and can be requested is a contract fact. That a review without them is a conversation rather than a reading is the author's professional judgment.
How it works
Six of the seven are records the insurer already holds and will send to the recorded owner on request. The seventh, the illustration from before purchase, is usually only in your own file, and it is the one most often missing. Ask for the six in one written request.
The cost or the catch
The folder takes a few weeks and no money. What it buys is the ability to test what anybody tells you, including this site. A review conducted on a statement alone can be sincere and still be wrong, because the statement does not contain the provisions that decide most questions.
Where this answer may not apply
- A corporately owned contract adds the corporate records: the resolution, the shareholders agreement and the accountant's treatment of the contract.
- Where the contract is collateral for a loan or is named in a separation agreement, those documents govern and belong in the same folder.
- Some insurers cannot produce a legible copy of a contract issued decades ago, and a certified reconstruction is what arrives instead.
- Gathering the seven is preparation, not analysis. It tells you nothing on its own.
What to verify in your own contract
- That the contract copy includes every endorsement, since a rider added later is often a separate page.
- The date on the in force projection, which should be recent rather than convenient.
- That the change forms in your file match what the insurer records, one by one.
- Who is recorded as owner today, which is not always who paid.
- Whether the designation is revocable or irrevocable, stated by the insurer rather than remembered.
Continue to the full explanation
Prepare for an existing policy review.
Sources
- Policy contract, endorsements and insurer service records, insurer specific, verified 2026-08-30
- Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, published consumer materials, verified 2026-08-30
Accountability and disclosure
- Written by
- José Salloum
- Professional capacity
- Financial security advisor, Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial
- Reviewed by
- Insurance and contract education tier, reviewed under a licensed insurance professional's own authority
- Jurisdiction
- Canada wide
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30
- Version
- 1.0
- Compensation disclosure
- Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial, may receive insurer paid compensation if a policy is purchased. It takes the form of first year compensation followed by renewal compensation, and the amount varies by insurer, product, age, premium, contract design, riders and the arrangement with the managing general agency. No single figure would describe every contract honestly, and none is published here.
- Report a correction
- Info@ibcfinancial.com. Write without a policy number, medical information or account details.
Last reviewed 2026-08-30. By Jose Salloum, Financial Security Advisor.