What Do You Need to Do About Your Insurance Policies After a Divorce?

A divorce is a big life change and it comes with more changes, especially when it comes to your finances and your insurance policies. There’s a good chance that your ex-spouse is on most of these policies, and you’ll want to address that quickly so that you don’t face more financial difficulties later. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t fully understand the impact of a divorce on these important documents and accounts, and are not aware of the potential consequences of not making the necessary changes. This is where it can help to have a North Carolina family law attorney on your side, helping you through the most difficult changes of your life and making sure that you don’t miss any important steps.

Changing Your Life Insurance Policy After a North Carolina Divorce

If you don’t already have a life insurance policy, you should take the time to get one; and if you do, you will need to make changes to it after your divorce. This is one of the insurance policies that your ex-spouse is likely to be a beneficiary of. If you are required to pay spousal support or child support, then you may need to keep your ex-spouse as the beneficiary of the policy or set him or her as the beneficiary of a new policy. In this way, you can ensure that you are able to continue to meet your financial obligations to your ex-spouse and your children even after you pass away. You can base the term of your life insurance policy on the amount of time that you are expected to pay support. The options are usually five, ten, twenty, or thirty years. If you are not required to pay any support, then you may need to remove your ex-spouse from any life insurance policies that you have already set up.

Changing Your Disability Insurance Policy After a North Carolina Divorce

Disability insurance is an oft overlooked form of insurance that many people don’t realize is so important. Nearly a quarter of all people who are twenty years old right now are going to be disabled by the time they are 65 years old. If you become disabled while you are required to pay spousal or child support, then you could run into serious financial struggles without disability insurance. Your divorce agreement might even call for you to carry this form of insurance just in case you do become disabled, so that your spousal and/or child support will still be paid.

Changing Your Health Insurance Policy After a North Carolina Divorce

The changes that you have to make to your health insurance policy after a divorce will depend on what policy currently covers you. If you are covered by your ex-spouse’s health insurance, then you are going to need to purchase new health insurance when you are removed from that policy. If you are the spouse whose health insurance covers the ex-spouse, then you won’t have to purchase new health insurance, but you will need to remove your ex-spouse from the policy.

If you are the spouse who is being removed from the insurance policy, then you should start by contacting your employer, if you have a job. If not, then you can research health insurance companies to find a new one and contact one of them to request coverage. Many people don’t realize that they can sign up for health insurance coverage on their employer’s policy even if the enrollment period is not currently active, in the event of losing insurance through divorce.

Changing Your Auto Insurance Policy After a North Carolina Divorce

The changes that you need to make to auto insurance policies after divorce will depend on whose policy covered you prior to the divorce, which vehicle(s) you were covered to drive, and which vehicle(s) you end up with after the divorce is final. Chances are that within your marriage, both parties were covered to drive any vehicles on the auto insurance policies. You can change this by contacting the insurance company and removing anyone who is no longer driving the vehicle, or by purchasing new auto insurance if you have been removed from the policy that formerly covered you. You’ll need to look into your auto insurance policies to determine who is covered to drive which vehicle(s) and make any changes that are necessary due the changes of the divorce. Further, if you have a teenager who will drive the vehicles of both parents, then both parents will need to cover that teen driver.

Changing Your Homeowners Insurance Policy After a North Carolina Divorce

Finally, homeowner’s insurance policies will need to be changed after a divorce. Whoever keeps the home will need to ensure that their ex-spouse is removed from the policy, and whoever did not keep the home will want to ensure that they are removed. If neither party keeps the home, and both of you move into rental properties, then it would be wise to purchase renter’s insurance and cancel the homeowner’s insurance policy for the home that you no longer own. It is important to make these changes so that your ex-spouse is not involved in any situations where you need to file a claim with this insurance.

A North Carolina Family Law Attorney Can Help With All of These Changes

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the many changes that are going to be happening in your life after a divorce and the steps that you need to take to ensure that your finances are protected and your insurance policies are accurate, you are not alone. Your North Carolina family law attorney can help you every step of the way. Contact Remington & Dixon, PLLC to learn more.

FAQs

Are consultations free?

While we offer a free consultation on traffic matters, criminal matters, and some professional license defense cases (if you have a pending Board complaint), we charge a fee for family law consultations to personalize our consultations to your specific needs. To learn about our fee structure, please get in touch.

Where can I get legal advice?

We recommend meeting with an attorney. While there is free legal help available for North Carolina residents from pro bono resources for civil matters, and public defenders for criminal cases, the best way to access tailored advice is to hire a lawyer.

Can I hire you if I’m in another state?

This is done on a case by case basis if you are involved in a family law, criminal, or professional disciplinary matter that involves another jurisdiction.

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