I am divorcing and my wife want me to sign off on my life insurance policy why?

Question

I am divorcing and my wife want me to sign off on my life insurance policy why?

Answer 1

Well why not; you are divorcing!  When you separate, you separate...that includes everything...even life insurance policies.  Sorry Charlie...those are the facts of D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

Good luck with your future!!

Answer 2

Maybe she wants you to transfer ownership of the policy from you to her?  That would be, so you can't change the beneficiary if you remarry, or find a sweetie.

It's hard to say, because "sign off" doesn't say exactly what she wants you to do.

Answer 3

One possibility is that she wants to own the policy after your divorce is final to compensate for any spousal maintenance or child support you are required to pay.  Therefore, if you pass away, she is protected.

Answer 4

If you have children & they are with HER - the children OR your x-wife should be beneficiary (possibly owner & payor?) of a life insurance policy.

She needs some kind of coverage/payment if you are gone to cover her loss of child support.

Do you want your children to be able to continue their way of life and go to college?

I am IN this situation and I am the x-wife...I also own and PAY for his life insurance policy - because I feel it is there to benefit ME and our children...not him... but not everybody agrees with THAT PART of my arrangement with my x-husband.

IF YOU HAVE NO CHILDREN....uh - she has no reason to ask that

Answer 5

hehe incase u die hehe

Answer 6

When you employ the term 'sign off',  one may surmise you mean 'give away'.  If this be the case, it is a natural thing to expect from a female.

You have something of value.  She wants it.  Typical female.

You could always strip out the cash value.  That is, borrow every dollar you can via a policy loan.  Any agent can let you know how to engage in this activity.

Also take out the dividends, if your policy has offered these.  Dividend Option Three is for paid-up additions.  Can you give her the underlying policy, but keep the paid-up additional insurance you have earned?

Dividend Option Four is for any dividends to accumulate at interest.  In this case, you can grab all that money prior to transferring ownership of the policy.

Should you pass away, if she is then the owner of the policy, the face value minus loans is granted unto her.  She receives that money free of income taxes (normal) and not subject to the imposition of estate taxes (almost always normal, and never normal when the owner is the decedent).  In other words, a spouse should almost always own the policy on the then-current loved one.

Who will pay for the policy if it is transferred?  

Your rates will never be as low as they were when you purchased the policy.  You may never be able to qualify for insurnace again because of underwriting restrictions.  

Recommendation:  Contact your agent as see if you can obtain insurance coverage prior to conveying title.  You may wish to go with term instead of whole life or, iif offered by the company, an investment-grade policy.

If you give her the policy and she wants you to make the premium deposits forever, then she can strip out the cash value every year she desires cash for shopping.  (With some women that can be annually.)  All that cash goes into her pocket.  And she could do it for the next 90 years or howerver long you live.  In fact, if you pass in 50 years and she does not know about your demise, the insurance company may not know either.  Then she can retire on the money growing inside your policy.  Illegal, but acceptable to one kind of woman.

See if you can make only the premium deposits needed to maintain the insurance portion of the policy.  That is, the policy remains in force while you make minimum deposits.  The growth of the cash values (and anything else, such as dividends to accumulate) will lessen the total premium.  After some years, this growth can exceed almost all needed funds to maintain the policy.  Also find out if you have to maintain the policy for over ten years (or however long you were married).  If she wants you to keep the policy forever, then the amount of the insurance will limit your ability to have that additional amount should you remarry and have children.

Please consider contacting a CLU or a ChFC in the Insurance section of the phone book.  Your situation is one that may be a bit above the abilities of the common agent.

(No offense to common agents.)

Answer 7

Heidi and Catz are right on this one (if that's what you meant by "sign off on").

@ Professor Wonderful, I had CLU's of 30 years and CLU, ChFC, MSFS coming to me for advice in my third year of the business.  You can get off your high horse.  Designations are little more than a marketing gimmick.  The public still needs to do adequate research.  I always recommend talking with at least three independent agents to get multiple points of view or a fee-only financial planner who has nothing to sell.

Answer 8

If you have a whole life insurance policy, then that policy is an asset, and she is probably entitled to half the assets.  Of course, so are you.

Answer 9

It looks like you have a lot of good answers, so you can be relieved that she does not plan on offing you as part of her divorce.  So you can look on the bright side with this request.

Answer 10

My sister works in a law firm and says she has seen many times where an ex gets all the deceased persons assets because they forgot to take the ex-spouses name off the will and insurance policies. It ends up being a huge thing because the family comes in trying to fight it.. Personally I wouldn't want all that I worked for to go to my ex, especially not if it ended on bad terms like a really messy split or something. In the divorce nearly everything will be split, but I don't think the life insurance policy is included in that split. Sorry to say, but just deal with it. Put the shoe on the other foot. If YOU had a life insurance policy with your wife as the beneficiary, would you still want her name on it?