Upon My Death.....

[tmcelrea]

Does child support and spousal support obligations end at my death? Can my estate be "sued" for the remaining amount owing?

I've been told that I should provide life insurance policies to cover the total amount year over year as the amount of my responsibility decreases.

But is there a law that stipulates that I must do that?

[FL_Needs_To_Change]

There is no formal law that stipulates that you "must" carry this type of insurance, however, there have been cases where individuals have been ordered to maintain such.

The receiving parent has the right to seek continued CS through your estate should you die without leaving a will that specifically addresses your child(ren).
I read allot about this when my husband's ex came and insisted that he carry insurance to cover CS should he die unexpectedly. She even took us to court. However, the courts did not order this since our income and standard of living did not allow us the luxury of doing this.
Every case is different, and the courts look at the paying parent’s means in order to determine if this is warranted. Word to the wise, get a will drawn up, make sure to leave something to each child, in the form of a savings bond or RESP account in an amount that is reflective of your income ability. If you do not mention each child specifically then the receiving parent has the legal right to contest the will. We had a will drawn up and included the ex’s child and named her on a savings bond in the amount of $1000 and any interest that it incurred, and also named the children we have together with exactly the same thing, everything else specifically named to go to the surviving spouse. This avoids her ability to contest because he “did” make provision for “all” his children.

[wondering50]

In a case where parents have joint custody and similar incomes both might have such an insurance clause in their agreement. The purported purpose of the insurance is to provide a level of financial support to the remaining spouse and children similar to that which the person would have provided should they have continued to live. The named beneficiary in each policy is the other spouse.

This got me wondering, what would happen if one spouse and all the children were to die at the same time (car accident or something similar). Seems that the remaining spouse would collect on a policy meant to provide for the children who were no longer living.

[tmcelrea]

Thanks...that does help a lot.