Is Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) the Same as Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI)?

The mix-up

Briefings and separation checklists say “SGLI” and families hear one policy that covers the household and then turns into VGLI. VA writes two different coverages.

1. Family SGLI / FSGLI is treated as another name for the member's SGLI. VA's FSGLI page is spouse and dependent-child coverage. The SGLI page is the member's term coverage.
2. The spouse and children are treated as riders on the member's amount, up to $500,000. The FSGLI page caps a spouse at $100,000, and not above the member's SGLI. Each dependent child is $10,000, and that child coverage is free.
3. Family coverage is treated as something that becomes VGLI after separation. The SGLI page points the member to VGLI. The FSGLI page gives the spouse a conversion window to a permanent individual policy. Those are different paths.
4. Every spouse is treated as automatically enrolled. A civilian spouse of a member with full-time SGLI is automatic on the FSGLI page. A military spouse married on or after January 2, 2013 is not.
5. Child coverage is treated like spousal coverage: something the member can decline, or something the family can convert later. The FSGLI page says dependent-child coverage is automatic, cannot be turned down, reduced, or canceled, and cannot be converted to an individual policy.
6. The member's 120 days of free SGLI, the member's VGLI application window, and the spouse's 120-day conversion window are treated as one clock. They are separate sentences on two pages.

This page is only the FSGLI-versus-SGLI mix-up, using those two live VA.gov pages. It does not tell you how much coverage to keep. Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) and the member's VGLI application steps stay on their own VA pages.

What SGLI is

From VA's Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) page (updated September 19, 2025): SGLI offers low-cost term coverage to eligible service members. If you meet the criteria, VA automatically signs you up through your service branch.

Full-time SGLI, as that page writes eligibility — at least one of these:

• Active-duty member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Marines, or Coast Guard
• Commissioned member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS)
• Cadet or midshipman of the U.S. military academies
• Member, cadet, or midshipman of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) engaged in authorized training and practice cruises
• Ready Reserve or National Guard member, assigned to a unit, and scheduled to perform at least 12 periods of inactive training per year
• Volunteer in an Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) mobilization category

A separate sentence on that page covers nonpay status in the Ready Reserve or National Guard. Both of these must be true: scheduled for 12 periods of inactive training for the year, and drilling for points rather than pay. The note says you must pay premiums directly. This note does not add another nonpay path.

Coverage and the clocks that page prints for the member:

• Coverage up to $500,000, in $50,000 increments.
• 120 days of free coverage from the date you leave the military.
• You may be able to keep coverage for up to 2 years after you leave, at no cost, if you meet either requirement on that page: totally disabled at discharge and unable to work, or — no matter your work status — one of the conditions that page lists (total loss of hearing in both ears; loss of speech that leaves you unable to talk, even in a whisper, without an artificial device; or permanent loss of use of both hands, both feet, or both eyes, or one hand and one foot, or one hand or foot and one eye). Apply with the SGLI Disability Extension Application (SGLV 8715). This note does not decide who meets those requirements.
• The same page lists part-time coverage for a Reserve member who does not qualify for full-time coverage. FSGLI eligibility, below, is written for full-time SGLI. This note does not rewrite part-time SGLI.

The member can choose the level of coverage, refuse coverage, and choose or change beneficiaries in the SGLI Online Enrollment System (SOES): milConnect, sign in, then Manage my SGLI. VA also links a SOES information page. Login on the SGLI page is CAC or DS Logon, once the member is notified they can start using SOES.

Premium, as that page writes it: 5 cents per $1,000 of insurance coverage, taken from base pay, plus an additional $1 per month for Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI). On the September 19, 2025 table, $500,000 is $25.00 plus $1.00 TSGLI, total $26.00. The other increments are on the live table. Confirm that page before you rely on a dollar. TSGLI itself is a separate VA page. This note does not rewrite the injury rider.

When the member leaves, that SGLI page writes two member options:

• Apply for VGLI within 1 year and 120 days from the date of discharge, for up to the amount of coverage the member had through SGLI.
• Convert SGLI to a permanent individual policy (the page's example is whole life) within 120 days from discharge, without proof of good health. The participating-companies list is the PDF linked from that page.

Those two bullets are the member's coverage. They are not a statement that a spouse or child policy becomes VGLI.

What FSGLI is

From VA's Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) page (updated March 26, 2026): Family SGLI, also known as FSGLI, offers coverage for the spouse and dependent children of service members covered under full-time SGLI.

You may be eligible if you are the spouse or dependent child of a service member and one of these is true:

• The service member is on active duty and covered by full-time SGLI, or
• The service member is a member of the National Guard or Ready Reserve covered by full-time SGLI.

The same page says you may qualify as the spouse of someone with SGLI coverage no matter whether your own status is active duty, Reserve, Guard, retired, or civilian. Coverage amounts on that page:

• Spouse: up to a maximum of $100,000, not to exceed the service member's SGLI coverage.
• Each dependent child: $10,000. Dependent children get free coverage.

How long child coverage lasts, as that page writes it

VA says it provides dependent coverage at no cost until the child is 18, or sometimes longer if the child meets one of the requirements below. To continue after age 18, one of these must be true: the child is a full-time student, or the child becomes permanently and totally disabled before turning 18 and cannot support themselves.

A later heading on the same page is more specific about the extension: coverage lasts until the child is 18; if the child is a full-time student between 18 and 22, VA may extend coverage; if the child becomes permanently and totally disabled before turning 18 and is no longer able to support themselves, VA may extend coverage — in some cases indefinitely. This note does not merge those sentences into a new age rule. Read both headings on the live page.

The member can reduce, turn down, or cancel spousal coverage in SOES. The note under that heading says VA automatically covers dependent children. The member cannot turn down, reduce, or cancel child coverage, and cannot convert coverage for a child to an individual insurance policy.

Spousal premiums increase with age. The tables are on the live FSGLI page. On the March 26, 2026 page, the under-35 table lists $4.00 a month for $100,000. Other ages and amounts are on that page. Confirm the row for the spouse's age and coverage. This note does not reprint the tables.

If the spouse is signed up in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), VA says it automatically deducts the FSGLI premium from the service member's pay. If the spouse is not in DEERS, the service member is still responsible for premiums and for back payments of unpaid premiums.

Civilian spouse versus a military spouse

The FSGLI page splits signup into two written cases. This note does not add a third.

Civilian spouse

If you are the civilian spouse of a service member signed up for full-time SGLI, VA says it will automatically insure you under FSGLI and automatically take the premium out of the service member's pay.

Military spouse married on or after January 2, 2013

If you are a military spouse and you were married on or after January 2, 2013, VA says it will not automatically cover you. The service member has to sign you up in SOES: milConnect, sign in, select Manage my SGLI. The member can log in with a CAC or DS Logon once notified they can start using SOES.

The page does not print a matching sentence for a military spouse married before January 2, 2013. This note does not invent one. Use the live page, and SOES, for that household.

When the member leaves, divorces, or dies

Keep the member's path and the spouse's path apart. The SGLI page's post-service options — 120 days of free member coverage, optional SGLI Disability Extension up to 2 years, VGLI within 1 year and 120 days, or a member conversion to a permanent individual policy within 120 days — are about the service member's coverage. Family coverage does not “become VGLI.” How to apply for VGLI stays on VA's VGLI page. This note does not rewrite it.

Spousal FSGLI, from the March 26, 2026 page: the spouse has the option to convert spousal FSGLI to a permanent individual policy (the page's example is whole life) within 120 days from the date of the service member's:

• Separation from the military
• Divorce from the spouse
• Written election to end spousal SGLI coverage
• Written election to end the member's SGLI coverage
• Death

If one of those events happens, the page says the spouse becomes solely responsible for all aspects of the policy, including premium payments. You cannot convert to term, variable, or universal life. Supplementary benefits — accidental death and dismemberment, or a waiver of premium for disability — are not part of the conversion policy, as that page writes it.

To convert, the same page says the spouse must also:

• Choose a company from the list of participating companies (PDF) and apply at that company's local sales office.
• Give the agent a copy of the most recent Leave and Earnings Statement showing the deduction for spousal SGLI.
• Provide proof of coverage with one of these: the member's separation document (DD214 or NGB-22, or written orders); the Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage; the member's FSGLI spousal declination; the member's SGLI declination; or proof of the member's death (DD1300 Report of Casualty, or a civilian death certificate).

Dependent-child coverage cannot be converted to an individual policy. This note does not invent a child conversion window, and it does not say the child's $10,000 becomes VGLI.

Family-member forms on the FSGLI page

These are the forms that page names. They are not the member's SGLI death-claim form.

• Report the death of a family member covered by the policy: Report of Death of Family Member (SGLV 8700).
• Claim family coverage death benefits: SGLV 8283A.
• Accelerated benefits for a spouse who is terminally ill: SGLV 8284A.

A beneficiary claim after the service member dies is a different form on the SGLI page: Claim for Death Benefits (SGLV 8283). This note does not walk through that claim.

Related

• A different VA life-insurance mix-up — S-DVI versus VALife: /blog/sdvi-vs-valife
• How to appoint an accredited representative: /blog/va-accredited-representative
• The member's post-service continuation (not rewritten here): VA.gov — Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI)
• Traumatic Injury Protection is a separate VA page, not this comparison: VA.gov — TSGLI

What this note is not

• Not a statement that FSGLI and SGLI are the same policy.
• Not a claim that spouse or child coverage automatically becomes VGLI.
• Not a rewrite of how the member applies for VGLI, or of the TSGLI traumatic-injury rider. Those stay on the VA pages linked above.
• Not a premium quote. Dollar examples are single rows from the September 19, 2025 SGLI table and the March 26, 2026 FSGLI table. Confirm the live pages.
• Not a rule for a military spouse married before January 2, 2013. The FSGLI page's non-automatic sentence is the on-or-after date.
• Not S-DVI versus VALife. That comparison is /blog/sdvi-vs-valife.
• Educational only; not insurance advice; not accredited representation; no guaranteed outcome; independent of VA.

Sources

• VA.gov — Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) (updated March 26, 2026) — primary
• VA.gov — Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) (updated September 19, 2025) — primary
• VA.gov — Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI) — linked only; not rewritten here
• VA.gov — Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) — linked only; not rewritten here
• Participating companies list (PDF) linked from the FSGLI and SGLI pages
• SGLV 8700 · SGLV 8283A · SGLV 8284A · SGLV 8283 · SGLV 8715
• VA — Get help from an accredited representative
• Internal: /blog/sdvi-vs-valife
• Internal: /blog/va-accredited-representative

Quick answers

Educational only. Not a VSO, attorney, or claims agent. Not affiliated with VA. Not insurance advice. No guaranteed outcome. Confirm the live VA.gov FSGLI page (updated March 26, 2026) and SGLI page (updated September 19, 2025) before you act. Dollar examples in this article are single rows from those pages’ published tables and can change. This article does not invent eligibility, premium tables, conversion windows, or claim outcomes, and it does not rewrite VGLI or TSGLI.