The answer is decided at purchase, not at death. A lifetime annuity is a contract to pay you an income, and what happens afterwards depends entirely on which options were built into it. A plain single life annuity with no guarantee simply stops. Other shapes pay on, and they cost something at the outset for doing so.
Single life with no guarantee
This is the default and the one that produces the highest starting income. Payments stop on death and nothing is returned to the estate, however short the period since purchase. That is not a penalty; it is the pooling that makes the product work, because the payments that stop early are what fund the people who live far longer than expected. It is also the reason people who want to leave something behind often choose a different shape or a different product entirely.
Joint life and guarantee periods
A joint life annuity continues to a named partner after your death, usually at a reduced percentage of the original income, and continues for their lifetime. A guarantee period is different: it commits the insurer to keep paying for a set number of years from the start whatever happens, so if you die inside that window the balance of the term is paid to your estate or a beneficiary. The two can be combined, and each reduces the starting income because each adds an obligation the insurer must fund.
Value protection and how payments are taxed
Some annuities offer value protection, which returns the difference between the original purchase price and the income already paid out, less any tax. It is another way to avoid the outcome where a large pot produces very little because of an early death. How continuing payments and lump sums are taxed depends on the type of payment and the circumstances, and GOV.UK sets out that you pay tax when you take money out of a pension, so the position for a beneficiary is a matter to establish with the provider rather than to assume.
Why this belongs in the purchase decision
None of these features can be added later. A lifetime annuity is a permanent contract, so the death benefits are fixed on the day it is bought, and that makes this one of the few retirement decisions with no second chance. Which shape suits you depends on whether anyone depends on your income and what other provision exists for them, which this site does not know. That assessment is a regulated activity and the enquiry goes to an authorised firm.
Other questions people ask
Does a single life annuity pay anything after death?
No, unless a guarantee period or value protection was chosen at the outset. Payments simply stop, however soon after purchase the death occurs, and nothing returns to the estate. That is what funds the higher starting income.
What does a joint life annuity pay a partner?
It continues to the named partner after your death, usually at a reduced percentage of the original income, for the rest of their life. The reduction and the survivor percentage are fixed when the annuity is bought.
What is a guarantee period?
A commitment by the insurer to keep paying for a set number of years from the start regardless of what happens. If you die within that window, the balance of the term is paid to a beneficiary or the estate. It reduces the starting income modestly.
Can I add death benefits later?
No. A lifetime annuity is a permanent contract and the death benefits are fixed at purchase, which is why this feature belongs in the decision rather than being left to be sorted out afterwards.