Fair Value Of Financial Instruments (Schedule of Mortgage Loans With Election Of Fair Value Option) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Fair Value, Option, Quantitative Disclosures [Line Items]
Fair value as of end-of-period	$ 765	$ 0
Commercial [Member]
Fair Value, Option, Quantitative Disclosures [Line Items]
Fair value as of end-of-period	765
Aggregate contractual principal as of end-of-period	742
Loans with fair value option in non-accrual	$ 0

Fair Value Option, Aggregate contractual principal

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	lnc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the aggregate fair value of loans held as assets that are in nonaccrual status for which the fair value option has been elected, if the entity's policy is to recognize interest income separately from other changes in fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (e)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=75031198&loc=d3e14064-108612

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Fair value portion of loan receivable, including, but not limited to, mortgage loans held for investment, finance receivables held for investment, policy loans on insurance contracts.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2196772

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

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