Couples in California who are getting a divorce spend much time focusing on the obvious issues such as who gets what property and the custody arrangements for the children. However, they often lose sight of important details that seem smaller, such as life insurance. Even this requires some forethought and planning.
Life insurance in a divorce is not as simple as picking an amount of required coverage and writing it into the agreement. Choosing the amount of coverage requires some effort to plan and anticipate what it could cost to raise children until they are adults. Parents must also make an educated guess as to the cost of college tuition in the future. The same calculation holds true when there is alimony in the picture.
Life insurance tends to get more expensive as the insured gets older or as their health changes. There is a possibility that some unforeseen health condition can keep them from even getting a life insurance policy. These and many other unknown factors could complicate the insurance picture in the years to come. As many contingencies as possible need to be addressed in the divorce agreement when it comes to life insurance because the agreement is the last time to work out these matters.
A divorce attorney may be able to advise their client of certain issues that they may have overlooked when it comes to life insurance. Parties to a divorce are understandably distracted by some of the bigger picture issues, such as property division, and may not focus on details that seem minute. However, a divorce attorney may advise clients of the importance of life insurance and work to help them agree on provisions in the divorce agreement that could deal with contingencies in this area.
