Found a pretty good freebie for all you parents out there. Get £15,000 FREE life insurance for one year – for each parent with a child under four.

Aviva promises that there’s no purchase necessary and there are no strings attached.

What you’ll get

When you sign up to the insurance policy (which again, will cost you nothing), it will pay out £15,000 if a parent covered dies during the policy term.

The cover lasts for 12 months from acceptance – and this is the key thing – It will not automatically renew, which is what I was looking for in the small print.

That said, it will have your details, so expect some letters encouraging you to renew after the freebie is over. Aviva has said that your details ARE NOT sold to any third parties.

Because it’s a totally free policy, you don’t need to put in any bank details and the application only takes a few minutes to complete.

Make sure you have a read of the full policy.

So yeah, pretty awesome freebie if it applies to you.

I’ll take any opportunity to stick in a picture of a cute baby

So what’s the catch?

Right, this is what I think – £15,000 probably isn’t enough to leave your children. If you don’t have life insurance or don’t currently plan on getting any for financial reasons – £15,000 is better than nothing.

I really don’t know if Aviva will do this, but there’s the possibility they will try and up-sell the product because £15,000 is likely to be insufficient, but of course, you don’t have to take this up.

What you’ll see at the bottom of the application form is a life insurance calculator which they encourage you to fill in. I have no kids, but I played with it a bit. I said I had a three-year-old, put in my wage, assets, debts etc and it was suggested the amount I needed to cover is – and wait for it… £526,355. Woah there!

I’m not saying it’s wrong. And it’s something to think about – but it goes to show you that Aviva knows £15k isn’t enough too. But again, a freebie is better than nothing.

I’d really recommend you talking to a professional to seek advice when it comes to financial planning for your families future (I’m certainly not qualified).

WARNING – If you already have an insurance policy, you should check with a professional because some policies have double insurance clauses, meaning your kids may end up with nothing.

So yeah, if you have nothing and don’t currently have the cash for a really good policy – this is a great freebie. If you’re thinking of getting insurance, don’t just pick this because it’s free. The £15k isn’t enough to leave your children – and if you already DO have a policy, check your terms.

For all of it, get professional advice, because it’s not the kind of thing you want to mess up if the worst happens.