Subsequent Events	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Subsequent Events [Abstract]
Subsequent Events	12. Subsequent Events Capital Transactions On April 24, 2020, Brighthouse Life Insurance Company paid an ordinary cash dividend of $500 million to BH Holdings.

The entire disclosure for significant events or transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date the financial statements were issued or the date the financial statements were available to be issued. Examples include: the sale of a capital stock issue, purchase of a business, settlement of litigation, catastrophic loss, significant foreign exchange rate changes, loans to insiders or affiliates, and transactions not in the ordinary course of business.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 855
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2122774

Name:	us-gaap_SubsequentEventsTextBlock
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration