A court cannot force a divorcing couple to obtain sufficient protection and does not have the power to order someone to protect maintenance agreements with life cover, warns Mike Allison, head of protection at Paradigm Protect.
But Mr Allison says if both parties agree to protect maintenance agreements with life cover, they can have it recorded in the court order. This can affect the overall divorce settlement: for example, spouses who are willing to pay for such protection may be able to negotiate to keep more of their pension.
But Phil Jeynes, head of account development at PruProtect, says he has seen examples of court orders dictating that parents have protection - usually life cover - in place where a maintenance order has been enforced.
Mr Jeynes says this ensures that children’s school costs and costs of living will met, even in the event of the premature death of the bread winner.
But ultimately most court orders do not actually assign the policy, according to Matt Forman, head of protection propositions for Aviva. Mr Forman says court orders simply instruct the parties to assign the policy.
However all insurers and advisers spoken to by FTAdviser agree that anyone needing to make sure their former spouse has sufficient protection cover in place, ultimately will find that remaining amicable is the best way to ensure that one another continue to have adequate protection cover in place, outside of mandated court orders.
