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Important Family Changes to Discuss with Your Insurance Agent
Aug 15, 2020
Family Changes Can Mean Insurance Changes
Your family life is important. Insurance is designed to protect the things that you cherish the most – meaning that when your family changes, your insurance structure may need to change as well. While family changes often come with their own set of challenges, adjusting your coverage after a marriage/divorce, the loss of a covered family member, or the birth/adoption of a child should be simple. Whether you’re considering a change to your family or have recently made a change, continue reading below to see what types of changes may affect your insurance coverage and why.
Inception or termination of a marriage or domestic partnership - There are a few different ways that these changes can affect your policies.
When considering your automotive coverage, chances are good that you will need to have the person being added or removed correctly accounted for as it regards them being an authorized operator of your vehicle. Your car insurance rates may be impacted.
Your homeowner’s insurance is most likely to be affected if the person being added or removed possess items that require additional or special coverage. The original value of your homeowner’s policy is likely to remain unchanged.
Life insurance is a relatively direct relationship pending the type of policy you have – because there are so many variations of life insurance, it’s always best to discuss with your agent if you have any family member changes in your household.
Children, dependents, and legal wards - Dependents under your insurance policies can bring great change – be sure to alert your insurance agent to any changes to the status of children and legal wards.
Automotive insurance is likely to be the most affected by changes to qualified dependents. When offspring reach driving age and become permitted or licensed to drive they should be added to your automotive policy. In some cases, this leads to a significant raise in automotive premiums because of the learning curve associated with young drivers. Thankfully, as with adults, there are courses and qualifications that children can earn in order to merit a decrease in insurance premiums.
Homeowner’s insurance is likely to remain unchanged with the addition of legal dependents; again unless the dependent is bringing items that require additional coverage beyond your base policy.
As discussed above, it’s always best to discuss your Life insurance policy with your agent due to the variations of life insurance available to ensure you and/or any dependents are properly covered.
Death and loss of life - Loss is always hard for a family. Some insurance types require modifying after the loss of life of someone who was covered.
Automotive coverage, as an example, needs the deceased person removed from the active drivers. Homeowner’s policies will also need the deceased removed from the policy in the event of claim so your carrier doesn’t issue a check you cannot cash.
As a general stipulation, filing a life insurance policy claim with most policies needs to occur within 90 days of the death being claimed. Your agent should work alongside you to assure that your policy is paid in full to you in a timely manner.
Keeping your insurance records accurate and extended to everyone who needs coverage is vital to the health of a family. No matter what the situation is, your insurance agent should be eager to help you receive as many benefits as possible. If you would like help navigating the changes to your insurance that follow changes to your family, give us a call at 607.734.8799.
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