Yes, the validity of the antivirus is for a life time but the license key only last for 14 months at which time you need to get a new key which will again be free.
The antivirus will still work without a new key but the newest virus definitions will not be supplied without this new key. Therefore, the antivirus program will only be protecting your computer with what virus definitions were updated before the key expiration. So please, get a new key when prompted near the end of the 14 months so that your copy of avast will continue to receive the most up to date virus definitions.