What happens to the cash value in my policy when I die?

When you die, the insurance company will pay the death benefit. No matter how much cash value you may have had in the policy the moment before you died, your beneficiaries can collect no more than the stated death benefit. Any loans you have not repaid (plus interest) will be subtracted from the death benefit.

The result: your beneficiary could wind up with less than the face amount of the policy.

The exception: some whole life policies pay both the death benefit and the cash value when you die.