Life Insurance & Divorce
I find that often people simply do not want to talk about life insurance, discussing your demise and planning for it is not a light subject. But in divorce it is imperative that it is addressed and an understanding of the types of insurance owned is of equal importance.
If someone is paying you alimony or child support, you need a life insurance policy on the person paying you support, insuring you will have the financial ability to maintain your lifestyle. Not only do you need to have life insurance on them you need to own the policy or you will never know that a beneficiary has been changed or if the policy was cancelled.
There are multiple types of life insurance, Term, Universal Life and Whole Life are the main categories with many deviations available. The main question for a term policy is what is the duration of the term and how many years are left on the term. For universal and whole life you should request an in-force illustration to look at the details of the policy, and how long will it remain in force with current premium payments.
Cash value policies should also be considered in asset division. The value is actual cash that you are able to borrow against or take from the policy.
