SGLI Family and Spouse Coverage (FSGLI): What $100,000 Costs at Each Spouse Age, and Who Is Not Covered Automatically

Full coverage for a military spouse under 35 costs $4.00 a month. That is the VA's current Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) rate for $100,000, the most a spouse can carry, and it rises with the spouse's age to $40.00 a month at 60 and older. All of this is settled: the coverage amounts are written into 38 U.S.C. 1967, and the premiums are the table on the VA's FSGLI page, last updated October 14, 2026. Nothing about FSGLI is pending in Congress. What varies is your family: whether your spouse is covered automatically depends on whether your spouse is also in uniform and when you married.

What FSGLI covers

FSGLI rides on the member's own policy. The VA limits it to the spouse and dependent children of a member "on active duty and covered by full-time SGLI" or a Guard or Ready Reserve member with full-time SGLI. The spouse can be civilian, retired, Guard, Reserve or active duty; what counts is the member's coverage.

• Spouse: up to $100,000, "not to exceed your service member's SGLI coverage." The statute sets the default at $100,000 (38 U.S.C. 1967(a)(3)(A)(ii)) and caps it at the member's own amount (1967(a)(3)(C)). A member who drops SGLI to $50,000 caps the spouse at $50,000.
• Each dependent child: $10,000. The VA says "Dependent children get free coverage," and the member cannot "turn down, reduce, or cancel" it. It lasts to age 18, to 22 for a full-time student, and longer for a child permanently and totally disabled before 18.
• Start date: spouse coverage begins on "the date of marriage of the spouse to the member," and a natural child's on "the date of birth of such child" (1967(a)(5)(E) and (F)).

The spouse premium, by age band

The premium is the spouse's age band rate times the coverage in $10,000 steps. These are the VA's figures for $100,000 and $50,000, with the annual cost multiplied out. The member's own SGLI is a flat 5 cents per $1,000 plus $1.00 for TSGLI, so $26.00 a month at $500,000, regardless of age.

Two jumps stand out. From 50 to 54 the rate is more than three times the under-35 rate, and from 60 on it is ten times. A senior NCO or field-grade officer with an older spouse pays real money for the same $100,000 a junior Airman's family gets for $4.00.

The whole family package, against 2026 basic pay

The premium does not depend on rank, but what it means to a paycheck does. This table adds the member's $500,000 SGLI ($26.00) to $100,000 of FSGLI for a spouse in three age bands, and shows the total as a share of 2026 monthly basic pay from the DFAS table in our data. Children add nothing. Look up your own grade with the basic pay calculator.

Where the premium shows up, and when it is missing

If the spouse is enrolled in DEERS, the VA says "we'll automatically deduct the FSGLI premium from your service member's pay." If the spouse is not in DEERS, the coverage can still exist and the member "will still be responsible for premiums and back payments of unpaid premiums." So a missing FSGLI line on the LES after a marriage is not a saving; it is a debt that can surface later. Walk the deductions section with the LES guide and the LES auditor.

Changes go through SOES: sign in to milConnect and select "Manage my SGLI." There the member can "reduce, turn down, or cancel spousal coverage" and update beneficiaries. A dual-military spouse married on or after January 2, 2013 is added the same way.

When spouse coverage ends, and what it converts to

Under 38 U.S.C. 1968(a)(5), spouse coverage ends 120 days after any of these: the member's written election to end it, the member's death, the member's "separation or release from the uniformed services," or the end of the spouse's status as an insurable dependent, which is how a divorce plays out. Within that 120 days the spouse may convert to "a permanent, individual insurance policy (such as whole life)" with one of the participating companies on the VA's list, bringing the latest LES showing the spousal SGLI deduction. The VA rules out converting to "term, variable, or universal life," and FSGLI does not convert to VGLI. Child coverage cannot be converted at all.

That 120-day clock runs alongside the separation checklist. The final pay calculator includes the last FSGLI deduction on the final paycheck, and the SGLI guide covers the member's own VGLI window.

The bottom line

FSGLI is $100,000 on a spouse for $4.00 to $40.00 a month depending on the spouse's age, plus $10,000 on every child at no cost, all tied to the member's full-time SGLI. Check two things: that a dual-military spouse married since January 2, 2013 is actually enrolled in SOES, and that the LES carries the deduction so no back premiums build up. Premiums are the VA's current rates and basic pay is FY2026; always verify with the VA, milConnect and your finance office before making financial decisions.