During a divorce, you may encounter many problems when it comes to dividing the property you have accumulated over the years of your marriage. You also discover that along with dividing assets, you have to divide debts incurred during the marriage. Other prosaic items that you may have given little thought also need careful attention.
For instance, your insurance policies, from health, to life, to car, all need to be revised to meet your new circumstance. If you have minor children, and receive child support, you need to ensure that those payments won’t suddenly end, if the non-custodial parent dies.
Because many women are the custodial parent, and their former spouse pays them child support, the divorce settlement needs to contain explicit requirement for life insurance on the father who is paying the child support.
The insurance policy needs to cover the lifetime child support obligation. This is because in Florida, the courts have stated that, “The obligation of a father to support a child normally terminates upon the death of the father.”
The father can assume the responsibility and agree in the settlement that his estate will maintain the child support payments until the child is 18-years-old. However, that can be a complex process, involving the estate and probate process.
A life insurance policy ensures a safe source of funding, but you need to be named as the owner of the policy, to prevent him from changing the policy beneficiaries. This also assures you of notice, should he stop paying the premiums.
Source: Fox Business, “Split Time: Kids, Custody and Insurance,” Susan Ladika, December 6, 2012
