Life Insurance to Secure Child Support and Alimony in Florida: What the Court Can Order and What to Check After Divorce

A child support or alimony order is only as good as the person paying it. If the paying parent or spouse dies, the monthly obligation does not pay itself. Florida law lets the court address that risk directly by requiring life insurance, a bond, or other security. It is one of the most commonly negotiated terms in a Northeast Florida marital settlement agreement, and one of the most commonly drafted badly.

The child support statute

Section 61.13(1)(c) provides that, to the extent necessary to protect an award of child support, the court may order the obligor to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy or a bond, or to otherwise secure the child support award with any other assets suitable for that purpose.

The power is discretionary ("may"), it is limited to what is "necessary to protect" the award, and life insurance is not the only option; a bond or other suitable assets can serve the same purpose.

The alimony statute

Section 61.08(4) contains parallel language for alimony, with two additions that matter. First, the court must make specific findings that there are special circumstances warranting the purchase or maintenance of a life insurance policy or bond to secure the alimony award. Second, the court may apportion the cost of the insurance or bond to either or both parties, based on each party's ability to pay.

The special-circumstances requirement means alimony security is not automatic, even when alimony is awarded. The party asking for it has to give the court a factual basis for the finding. When the parties agree to insurance in a settlement, the agreement does the work and the finding is not contested, which is one reason this issue is usually resolved at mediation rather than at trial.

Setting the amount

The statutes say "to the extent necessary," so the amount should track the obligation it secures. A practical approach is to estimate the total support remaining under the order and set the death benefit at or near that figure. A parent paying $1,200 per month in child support for a child who has eight years left until support ends has roughly $115,000 of remaining obligation. A $500,000 policy for that obligation is hard to justify as "necessary." A $50,000 policy leaves the child underprotected.

Because the remaining obligation shrinks every month, some agreements provide for a declining face amount, or allow the paying party to reduce coverage at stated intervals. That keeps the premium proportionate and avoids an argument later.

Setting the term

The insurance obligation should end when the obligation it secures ends. For child support, that is the date support terminates under the order. For alimony, it is the end of the alimony term. Since the 2023 amendments to section 61.08, permanent alimony is no longer among the forms the court may award, and section 61.08(8) limits durational alimony to a percentage of the length of the marriage: 50 percent for a short-term marriage, 60 percent for a moderate-term marriage, and 75 percent for a long-term marriage. The court may extend the term only under exceptional circumstances shown by clear and convincing evidence. A fixed alimony term makes it easier to match a level-term life policy to the obligation.

An agreement that requires insurance "until the children are grown" or "as long as alimony is owed" without a date invites a dispute. Tie the term to an identifiable event and say what happens if alimony is modified or terminated early.

Choosing the beneficiary

For alimony, the beneficiary is usually the former spouse. For child support, the question is harder. Minor children should not be named directly as beneficiaries. An insurer generally will not pay a large death benefit to a minor, and the result can be a court-supervised guardianship of the child's property, with its own cost and delay.

Common alternatives include naming a trust for the children's benefit with an identified trustee, or naming the other parent as trustee for the children. A trust adds cost but controls how the money is used; naming the other parent is simpler but puts the funds in that parent's hands. The agreement should say which applies.

Proof of coverage

An insurance obligation that no one checks is not security. Good agreements require the insured party to:

1. Obtain the coverage by a stated date.
2. Provide proof of the policy and the beneficiary designation within a set time.
3. Provide updated proof annually, or on request.
4. Authorize the insurer to confirm coverage and premium status directly to the other party.
5. Notify the other party if the policy lapses or the beneficiary changes.

Some agreements also make any shortfall a claim against the estate if the insured dies without the required coverage.

Negotiating it in mediation

Life insurance is often a trading piece in mediation. Questions worth resolving at the table include whether the insured's health makes new coverage expensive or unavailable, whether employer group coverage will continue if the insured changes jobs, who pays the premium, and whether the face amount declines over time. A settlement that answers those questions does not need a judge to answer them later.

After the divorce: check every beneficiary designation

Divorce does not automatically update every beneficiary form a spouse ever signed. Section 732.703(2) provides that a designation made before the divorce, providing for payment or transfer at death of an interest in an asset to the former spouse, is void as of the time the marriage was dissolved, if the decedent dies after the divorce. Section 732.703(3) applies this to life insurance and annuities (inside and outside employee benefit plans), employee benefit plans, individual retirement accounts, payable-on-death accounts, and transfer-on-death securities. The statute applies to decedents dying on or after July 1, 2012.

There are important exceptions in section 732.703(4). The rule does not apply to the extent controlling federal law provides otherwise. Employer-sponsored plans governed by ERISA may follow the plan documents and federal law rather than this Florida statute, so the old designation on a 401(k) or group life policy may still control. The rule also may not apply where the divorce judgment requires the decedent to maintain the asset for the former spouse or the children (if no other assets satisfy that requirement), or where the decedent signed a new designation after the divorce expressly naming the former spouse.

That last exception is the link to this post. If the judgment requires insurance for the children or the former spouse, the designation stays in place because the court ordered it. Every other designation should be reviewed and changed affirmatively. Relying on the statute to clean up an old form, particularly on an employer plan, is a gamble that the family pays for.

The short version

Life insurance converts a monthly obligation into a protected one. The court has the power to require it for child support and, with the required findings, for alimony. The value is in the details: amount, term, beneficiary, and proof. Our Florida child support calculator gives the monthly figure that the insurance is meant to secure. Translating that figure into the right coverage, and drafting the provision so it works when it is needed, is the part that requires a lawyer.

Steven C. Fraser, Esq., Florida Bar No. 625825, Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator No. 37256 CFR. Jacksonville, Florida. 877-862-7188.