What Happens To Life Insurance When You Divorce? 
Sometimes when getting divorced one party will `` take over '' the life insurance of the other party . Their assumption is that if they make the premium payments then they will have control over the policy . This is not the case , the other party needs to sign a change of owner form . If this is not done you will be paying the premium on a policy that you have no control over . Your ex-spouse will have the legal right to change the beneficiary if he is the owner , regardless of who is paying the premiums . Also , if your life insurance policies predate your divorce and you are supposed to be the beneficiary of your ex-spouses policy -LRB- or vice versa -RRB- , you should find out if you live in a Divorce Revocation state . If so , it is very important that you update the beneficiary designations using the correct terminology . Failure to do so could be catastrophic . In a Divorce Revocation state you could be listed as the beneficiary of your ex-spouses policy but still not receive the death benefit . One simple change can avert this problem 