QUESTION: I have heard that in a divorce that you can ask the judge for an insurance policy against another parent who might run instead of paying his children support, how does this work?
ANSWER: I am not aware of any insurance policy that insures that child support will be paid if the parent ordered to pay child support fails or refuses to pay. I can’t imagine any insurance company would offer such a policy because it would be a terrible risk for the insurance company to insure against.
You can certainly purchase a life insurance policy on your ex, so that if your ex dies while the children are still minors you can have the insurance policy proceeds compensate for the loss of the payment of child support by the deceased parent.
There is another way to “ensure” the payment of child support: using the services of your state’s child support enforcement and collection services (they can garnish wages and bank accounts or even threaten to have your ex imprisoned if he/she fails to pay). Every state has such an agency. In Utah it’s called the Office of Recover Services. Here is their website:
and here is the link to their child support collection and enforcement services:
http://ors.utah.gov/child_support_services.htm
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277