If you’re facing divorce, call 203-936-6772 at LAW OFFICES OF PIAZZA & SIMMONS, LLC to set up an initial consultation.

If you’re facing divorce, call 203-936-6772 at LAW OFFICES OF PIAZZA & SIMMONS, LLC to set up an initial consultation.

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Guiding People Through Divorce With Grace And Dignity For More Than 30 Years

Attorney Anthony A Piazza & Laura A Simmons

Guiding People Through Divorce With Grace And Dignity For More Than 30 Years

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Life Insurance Policies And Connecticut Divorce

Life insurance plays an important role in many Connecticut divorces. If you’re considering divorce in Stamford, Connecticut, it’s imperative that you carefully weigh your legal options as they apply to any life insurance policies belonging to you or your spouse. Protect your rights.

Divorce Proceedings

Many couples who are going through divorce have life insurance policies on one or both spouses. The dissolution of a marriage is often tumultuous, and it’s easy to lose sight of the details. Life insurance, however, can play an important role in the outcome of your divorce proceedings and shouldn’t be overlooked. In Connecticut, any existing life insurance policies must be maintained throughout the pendency of the case.

Request For Discovery

If either party to a divorce owns a life insurance policy, it should be present on that party’s financial affidavit, but many Connecticut family law attorneys also make discovery requests for these policies. This allows you and your attorney to examine any existing policies and consider their implications for your case. This information is essential as your case moves forward toward either settlement or trial. In Connecticut, when a divorce is filed, automatic orders are issued that, among other things, preclude any party from changing a life insurance policy’s beneficiary and from letting a policy lapse while the case is proceeding. To do so allows the other party to request that the court provides remedies.

Not All Policies Are Created Equal

Term life insurance policies usually have no cash value. Instead, term life insurance provides coverage at a specified amount for a specified term, which is important to consider when you’re hammering out the details of your divorce. Equally important is the cost of that policy and whether the premiums are set to increase sometime in the future. Your divorce lawyer will help you determine the fate of any such policies, including if they will be maintained and by whom.

Whole life insurance policies, on the other hand, have cash value and are assets that will be equitably distributed in your divorce. Often, the policy owner will keep the policy, and the other spouse will be apportioned his or her share via a larger percentage of some other asset. There are a variety of ways to apportion whole life insurance policies, however, and it’s important to consider what each option could mean for your case. Your divorce attorney will guide you through this important process.

Further details that relate to your post-divorce finances – including whether the court orders that a policy is implemented as security for alimony, child support, or educational obligations – must also be scrutinized. Life insurance as an asset in divorce can become very complicated very quickly; seek experienced legal counsel.

Call A Stamford Divorce Attorney Today To Protect Your Legal Rights

If you’re facing a divorce in Stamford, Connecticut, and have specific questions about how life insurance policies will be divided or have questions about your divorce in general, contact the family law attorneys at the LAW OFFICES OF PIAZZA & SIMMONS, LLC. We’re here to help you preserve your rights and equitably resolve your Connecticut divorce. Please call our office today at 203-936-6772.