Life insurance policies pay out a death benefit upon the insured’s death to their named beneficiaries. In a divorce, both beneficiaries and policy ownership should be modified to account for the change in marital status and its implications.

Can you leave life insurance to someone other than your spouse?

Besides naming a spouse as beneficiary, a policyholder could choose another family member, such as an adult child, a business partner or even a boyfriend or girlfriend outside the marriage. Insurance companies don’t make moral judgments about who is named as beneficiary.

Can I buy insurance on my ex husband?

Yes, insurance companies will frequently allow someone to purchase a life insurance policy on an ex-husband or ex-spouse provided that they can show that they still have an “insurable interest” in the life of the ex being insured.

Do you have to have life insurance on your ex spouse?

In fact, many divorce decrees specify that the ex-spouses must have life insurance on themselves, with the ex-spouse named as the beneficiary. Alternatively, each ex-spouse could own a policy on the other ex-spouse.

Can a former spouse be a beneficiary on a life insurance policy?

To avoid situations where ex-spouses incidentally benefit from policies of their deceased former spouses, many states have enacted laws that automatically revoke the ex-spouse as the beneficiary on the life insurance policy following divorce. These laws were designed to prevent conflict among families and limit litigation over disputed policies.

Who is entitled to life insurance after divorce?

Questions about ex-spouses’ rights to the life insurance policy of their deceased former spouses come up very frequently in our practice. This area of law can be quite confusing to many people because there is no universal rule on who receives life insurance after divorce.

What happens to alimony if my ex husband dies?

If a divorced spouse is ordered to pay alimony or child support, that support would stop if the ex-spouse who is paying it died. The ex-spouse who was receiving the child support or alimony would be negatively impacted financially, so they have insurable interest in the ex-spouse.