Equity Securities Holdings Exposure Amount Of Single Issuer Greater Than Stated Percentage Of Total Investments

No definition available.

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- Definition

Exposure to sub prime and alternative A residential mortgage backed securities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Investment Securities Held By Subsidiaries Subject To Specialized Industry Accounting Principles At Fair Value

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number of Investment Holdings in Industry

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No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Number Of Issuers In Investment

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Percentage Book Value Of Investments Exceeded Stockholders Equity

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Percentage Of Accounts Receivable Major Customers

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Percentage of exposure to sub prime and alternative A residential mortgage backed securities to invested assets.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage of investments fair value in relation to invested assets portfolio.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Percentage Of Net Sales Due To Customers

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No definition available.

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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- Definition

Sales Outside Domestic Country As Percentage Of Net Sales

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No definition available.

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- Definition

The net amount (to the extent disclosed within this portion of the income statement) by which an insurance settlement exceeds incremental costs incurred from the event causing an interruption of business, plus the insurance award for earnings lost from the event, such as a natural catastrophe, explosion or fire.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 30

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (b)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6365675&loc=d3e16285-107787

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF)

-Number 01-13

-Paragraph 7

-Subparagraph b

-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

+ Details

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Significant Risks and Uncertainties - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
FGL's investment securities in the banking industry with a fair value	1,081,955	2,126,380
Percentage of invested assets portfolio	6.00%	13.00%
Number of issuers in investments	8	19
Number of holdings on investment securities	10
Percentage of total holdings in industry	36.00%
Stockholders' equity exceeded percentage	10.00%	10.00%
Wilton Reassurance Company [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
Net amount recoverable from Wilton Re	1,317,114
Sub-prime [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
Exposure of FGL's invested assets	233,318
Exposure of FGL's invested assets	1.00%
Agency residential mortgage-backed securities [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
Exposure of FGL's invested assets	121,629
Exposure of FGL's invested assets	1.00%
Concentrations of Financial and Capital Markets Risk [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
FGL's investment securities in the banking industry with a fair value	2,000,355
Percentage of invested assets portfolio	12.00%
Number of issuers in investments	118
Single issuer [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
FGL's investment securities in the banking industry with a fair value	152,876	159,265
Percentage of invested assets portfolio	1.00%	1.00%
Concentrations of Risk and Major Customers [Member]
Unusual Risk or Uncertainty [Line Items]
Percentage of net sales from major customer	23.00%	24.00%	22.00%
Percentage of trade account receivables from major customers	13.00%	16.00%
Net sales from outside of the United States	46.00%	44.00%	44.00%