So, what happens to your insurances while you’re going through a divorce? And even after a divorce? Well, that’s a very complicated question, there are many different types of insurances that you might have that can be affected differently as you’re going through a divorce and ultimately after your divorce is final.
Typically, in the state of Florida once a divorce case is filed, an order gets issued by the Clerk of the Court, what they call a standing order, that says all the insurances that are in existence must stay in place during the pendency of your divorce unless somebody requests the judge authorize a change to insurances. So your health insurance, your car insurance, your homeowner’s insurance, life insurance, those are going to stay in place as you go through the divorce proceeding. If you’re the person who typically pays that most of the time, you’re going to be required to continue paying that through the divorce proceeding.
After the divorce, what happens to insurances can depend on if you’ve divorced by an agreement. So, you and your spouse maybe reached terms on what would happen with insurances, or if the judge actually enters an order, a final judgment divorcing you by a trial versus an agreement, the judge can decide what happens with insurances now.
Health insurance is one that’s difficult for you to continue on your spouses or your ex-spouses plan after the divorce has happened, so that has to be factored into the terms of resolving the divorce, the property distribution, alimony awards, and things like that. Life insurance is one that typically can be awarded to secure the payment of future obligations. For example, if a spouse, they get divorced and that spouse has an obligation to pay, say, alimony, spousal support, or even child support, that could be an ongoing obligation for years; the judge can or by agreement you can put into place a requirement that the spouse who has to make the payments secure or maintain a policy of life insurance in order to protect that award. For example, if there were children and there was an ongoing child support obligation, that parent of the child, the ex-spouse, were to die that support that would have been coming through to the children is no longer available; having a life insurance policy in place so that if something were to happen, that paying spouse were to die, that insurance could replace the support that would be lost by way of the death. Typically, property insurance, like automobile and homeowner’s insurance, are going to go with the asset, whoever gets awarded that asset.