If you are in the middle of a divorce and you have come to the discussion of splitting up the assets, one of the items that will come up is the life insurance that you had, either jointly with your spouse or separately during the marriage. When it comes to figuring out which assets are joint and thus, must be split, life insurance may not even come to mind. However, it is definitely something that you need to discuss and to determine how it should be split. This is actually more for the sake of your child than for you and your spouse, if you have children.
The division only applies to what you and/or your spouse bought during the marriage. Another important factor that will figure into deciding how the life insurance should be split is the income of both spouses. It is important to keep in mind that everything is up for negotiation in a divorce and the most important thing is that the assets are divided fairly to the satisfaction of both spouses.
The Different Types of Life Insurance and How They Are Split
There are two main types of life insurance that you and your spouse may have and that will determine how simple or complicated it becomes to divide the life insurance policies. The two types are term life insurance and permanent life insurance. Term insurance covers you for a specific number of years (usually between 10 and 30). With that type of insurance, if you should pass away within that period of time, your beneficiary or beneficiaries would receive the money according the face value of the policy.
Permanent life insurance never expires if the policy holder continues to pay the premiums; it cannot be divided as easily as term life insurance. The division occurs after the spouses agree on how it should be split. If the couple wants to divide it equally, they must cash it first.
The Advice of A Knowledgeable Family Law Attorney
If you are having difficulty working out your asset division issues, a Delaware County family law attorney may be able to help a great deal. With asset division, the objective is to work together amicably and for both sides to be satisfied. Solid advice can help you and your family to accomplish that so that you can both move on.