A Georgia court can require a spouse to keep life insurance for the other spouse’s benefit as part of an alimony award, and that obligation is periodic alimony.
A Court May Order It
In Hawkins v. Hawkins, 268 Ga. 637 (1997), a husband ordered to pay alimony for five years also had to keep a $300,000 policy naming his former wife as beneficiary. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, having already “concluded that a trial court may order a spouse to carry life insurance for the benefit of the other spouse.” His objection that alimony cannot outlive him failed, because the premiums stop at his death and the award “does not impose a duty on the husband’s estate.”
Why It Is Periodic Alimony
The cost depends on how long the insured lives. In Sapp v. Sapp, 259 Ga. 238 (1989), a jury labeled the husband’s duty to pay premiums on a policy for his wife “equitable property division.” The Supreme Court disagreed: “the number of life-insurance premium payments and the total amount of the payments are contingent on the length of the husband’s life,” so it was periodic alimony.
The label has consequences. In White v. Howard, 295 Ga. 210 (2014), the decree required a $100,000 term policy for twelve years and recited that the transfers were “not alimony.” Even so, when the wife remarried the obligation was periodic alimony “as a matter of law,” and it “terminated upon Wife’s remarriage, because the divorce decree did not expressly provide otherwise.” If insurance is meant to survive remarriage, the decree must say so in terms, as our posts on alimony after remarriage explain.
The Other Corners
Insurance for the children rests on OCGA 19-6-34 and is in our child support posts, as is the premium deviation. A promise to keep insurance in a settlement agreement, and what happens when the policy is changed or lapses, is in our settlement agreement posts.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!