More than five years ago my husband and I took out an endowment policy connected to a mortgage. Shortly afterwards we split up and divorced. I have paid all the premiums, but when I decided to surrender the policy recently the insurance company told me this wasn’t possible without my husbands signature.
When you divorced, your ex-husband should have signed a deed of absolute assignment for you to take over the policy, or it should have been stopped and a new one taken out. As a joint owner of the policy he is technically entitled to half its value even if you’ve been paying the premiums. If the policy was missed in your final settlement during your divorce proceedings you may possibly have a claim for negligence against the firm that handled your divorce.