More than one-third of all marriages end in divorce. If you are contemplating divorce, it is time to consolidate and protect your assets, especially if you don’t have a pre-nuptial agreement between yourself and your spouse. This is a highly emotionally distraught and upsetting process, and so you need a trustworthy and supportive divorce attorney who is well-versed in the family law in your state of residence to argue successfully on your behalf. Your divorce attorney should be from the local area so that he will know the district circuit judges and courts, not to mention their likely reactions to any given situation.

You can consult your lawyer and then decide whether to remove your money from the joint account, remove any other asset that is yours alone, and also remove something handed down in your family – a family heirloom, and can in no way be considered part of the marital assets. In most cases, the insurance policies get neglected while the ex-spouses fight over everything else. You can’t remove your spouse from your insurance before divorce. The law is quite clear on that. However, after your divorce, you are legally obliged to remove your spouse from your health insurance cover. Only spouses and dependent children are allowed to be included in your insurance coverage.

Life Insurance

If you marry and divorce, then go on to marry someone else and spend fifty years happily married, your ex-wife might still get your life insurance policy if you haven’t changed the beneficiary. Your divorce attorney should help you with what needs to be done during this time of emotional turmoil, especially if children are involved. Some people however decide to keep their ex-spouses on as beneficiaries in order to help their children, or one can set up a trust to hold the amount with the former husband or wife as the executor.

Home Insurance

If you own property jointly with your spouse, the insurance on that too has to be updated. If you can sell the property and split the proceeds, fine. If you’re underwater and cannot sell the property, you have to work out an agreement, and have it in writing, allotting responsibility for the mortgage and insurance payments. If one of you moves out, you have to get renters insurance to cover your belongings in the new digs. If both of you move out of the marital home, then you have to buy a vacant home policy, which might not provide the same kind of coverage.

Vehicle Insurance

If you and your spouse are owners of multi-car insurance policies, you might lose the multi-car discount if you remove your ex; at the same time, if your ex breaks a few windows or keys your car, then it can be treated as vandalism and you can claim insurance for getting your car fixed, if their name is not on the insurance. There are both pros and cons to this, so decide after careful consideration and consultation.

Health Insurance

Even after your divorce, you can stay on as beneficiary on your spouse’s employer-sponsored health insurance, if you sign up for the COBRA insurance plan, which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which provides for continued insurance coverage for people whose coverage is affected by life-changing events. This can be particularly helpful if there are any pre-existing conditions that prevent you from taking out a new policy.

Whatever your situation at the time of legal separation and divorce, your attorney should be able to help you safeguard your interests and protect your rights, as during this turbulent time, you need to rely on someone to look after your interests. At Kenny Leigh & Associates, we understand the law as it stands currently, and applied in our family courts is generally biased towards the mother. We are passionate about fighting for the fathers’ rights, and to this end, we represent only men and we handle only divorce and family law cases.

If you are a man thinking of divorce and want to ensure that rights are not forsaken, call us. We operate from five convenient locations in Northeast Florida, in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Fleming Island, Boca Raton and Gainesville.

By Kenny Leigh