Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended																			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 Goodwin	Dec. 31, 2012 Goodwin	Dec. 31, 2013 1851	Dec. 31, 2012 1851	Dec. 31, 2011 1851	Dec. 31, 2012 PEPCO	Dec. 31, 2011 PEPCO	Dec. 31, 2013 Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2012 Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2011 Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2013 Saybrus	Dec. 31, 2012 Saybrus	Dec. 31, 2011 Saybrus	Dec. 31, 2013 Service Agreements	Dec. 31, 2012 Service Agreements	Dec. 31, 2013 Sales Agreements Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2012 Sales Agreements Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2013 Sales Agreements Saybrus	Dec. 31, 2012 Sales Agreements Saybrus	Dec. 31, 2013 Processing Service Agreements Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2012 Processing Service Agreements Phoenix Life	Dec. 31, 2013 Surplus Note 10.5% Surplus Notes [Member]	Dec. 30, 2013 Surplus Note 10.5% Surplus Notes [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Capital Contributions from Parent	$ 45,000,000	$ 0	$ 0
General insurance expenses	91,500,000	71,400,000	73,300,000
Amounts payable							0	0												6,300,000	4,400,000	1,300,000	8,000,000
Investment advisory fees	0	0	1,200,000
Commissions incurred									6,400,000	6,500,000	6,900,000	0	0
Commissions paid by related party														65,400,000	73,300,000	97,300,000	9,200,000	11,300,000	11,200,000
Commission amounts payable to related party																								700,000	900,000
Due from (to) related party																										(2,600,000)	2,400,000
Payable to related parties	14,100,000	11,000,000		12,600,000	18,300,000	15,500,000																				500,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount																													$ 30,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage																													10.50%
Redemption price, percentage																												100.00%