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Insurance revenge can cost divorced spouses immensely

On Behalf of | Dec 30, 2011 | Divorce

Former spouses in Columbus, Ohio, can become quite irate with one another during a separation and divorce. Though this is not always the case, disagreements can boil over into court proceedings, which may tempt one spouse to hurt the other. The target may be bank accounts, assets or the children. Regardless of which target is selected, the attempt — whether successful or otherwise — may provoke an ex-husband or ex-wife to seek vengeance for the things they lost in the divorce. One such way for them to do this is through insurance plans that were once provided for the entire family.

This may be in the form of health insurance, life insurance, car insurance or even home insurance. Often, divorcing couples do not provide for one another on insurance plans, but may agree to do so for a short time while a former spouse gets his or her own plan. If this is not in the divorce settlement, a spouse may retract a prior gesture of generosity. Insurance is definitely something that should be addressed when negotiating a divorce settlement.

In one case, a woman did not find out if her and her children had been removed from her former husband’s health insurance until she took their son to the emergency room. By requiring health insurance coverage in a divorce agreement, this sort of revenge may be avoided.

In another case of divorce revenge, a man supposedly entered his former home, and where his ex-wife still lived, and put a nail in a water pipe. He still had a key. The pressure from the pipe forced the nail free, causing the basement to flood, and the home insurance did not cover the damage because the couple had made a water-related damage claim within three years of this happening. This form of insurance revenge cost the woman dearly, and she could not prove the allegations against her ex-husband.

Source: Fox Business, “How to protect yourself from ‘insurance revenge’ during divorce,” Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, Dec. 13, 2011

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