In general, it is hard to buy insurance against events that you have some control over. Thus it is hard to buy insurance against "getting married." Indeed, the law of New york requires that insurance only cover fortutitious events.

But there are examples of insurance against things that you have some control over... libel, slander, auto accidents, medical malpractice... Or if this is a problem, make the divorce insurance policy void if the insured party is not willing to contest the divorce.

Oh, I get it... similar to a credit rating. If for example, a combination of all those factors (age, income, assets) gives you a score like 700 on a credit rating, you're a keeper! How would you implement such a scale? Would a higher age number be a good thing or a detriment to the overall score? I suppose each person (or couple) would have to develop their own scale. Then the other unquantifiable factors of values, characteristics, etc. would have to be accounted for in the decision making process too. But at least you would have a base number to move forward from. Have you pitched this to a dating service yet? It could make you millions!

Mulder, my mom and I had discussed this very idea a while back and think it's great! I have also started a fictional book on this very idea. From a woman's point of view that is on her second marriage this idea is very appealing. Even if you could offer only $5,000.00 policies, this would help a person leave a marriage gone sour. Had I had this perticular insurance, I probably wouldn't have stayed so long in my first very bad marriage. It would take some doing to develop a workable system, but love the idea. Would like to talk to you more about this for research for my book. I found this site and your idea/comment while doing research. If you could do so, please email me at vsmorgan@sbcglobal.net. Thanks!

Many issues come to mind considering divorce insurance. I see getting divorce insurance as similar to credit protection insurance that is offered to you by banks and credit card companies in case you become unemployed and can't pay your bills. A reality in the times in which we live. But considering how common divorces are, who would offer insurance policies and how long would it take for them to go bankrupt?

The comment made about insurance being offered only for 'fortuitous events' does make sense, but who gets married planning to get divorced? Yes, you may have some control over it, but it certainly doesn't seem that way when you're going through a divorce.

So perhaps it is best not to call it 'insurance' as it is a misnomer. Call it a 'retainer' or 'protection' instead. Create an account with a bank or company designed for such and squirrel away $50 a month for the unfortunate event.

The thing about marriage and divorce is that it is an issue of emotion and less of hard cold facts. How would a spouse feel if you told them you took out divorce insurance on them? Great start to a marriage. But the same can be said for prenuptuial agreements. Again, you don't get married planning to get divorced.

Insurance is a great concept to protect your investments and give security and well being. Divorce insurance of any name could serve some people very well and give options to those who feel 'stuck'. Perhaps it's my own emotional hurdle to get over the concept the same way we get over fire, flood or earthquake insurance. You don't ever want to see it happen, but you'll be damn happy that you're covered if it does.

There are a number of pending patent applications that describe how to make and use a practical form of divorce insurance.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=divorce&FIELD1=CLM&co1=AND&TERM2=insurance&FIELD2=CLM&d=PG01

umm...prenup maybe?

There are some insurance products closely linked to the event of divorce. For example, a few banks in Europe propose a re-sale guarantee which covers an eventual asset depreciation on a house if divorce occurs within a certain time period. Such an insurance is generally sold with credit protection insurance when taking out a mortgage.There are also products (e.g. Juriprotect offered by Groupama France) which cover legal fees in case of divorce by mutual consensus with a 2 years waiting period after having contracted the policy and a maximum benefit (since it is only for divorce by mutual consensus, fees aren't too high). This guarantee is part of legal assistance products, proposed as a rather expensive option.

Insurance companies generally insure things that happen to you, not things you did (although corporate director & officer insurance is a good exception). The primary problem is first setting the rates. Others have noted how would you assess a person's divorce risk? Many folks married at 22 have been together for 50 years. And then there's Britney and Liz Taylor. How will they know which group you are in? When the risks of paying out are too hard to calculate, either insurance companies set the rates sky-high and nobody can afford the policy, or they won't insure at all (earthquake insurance is offered in CA, but only because it is govt mandated and essentially govt operated, same for insurance on nuclear power plants).And then when the divorce happens, how does the insurance company know it's not collusion? With no-fault divorces available, people don't have to give any reason for why they want a divorce other than 'differences' have arisen.

I am in the middle of a divorce. Although some say this is within your control, I would argue that it is not. Even if you want to site one party or the other as contributing to the divorce with their behavior, bottom line is that the end result is unexpected at the time of marriage. The insurance would be more damage control that reimbursement for damage. If made mandetory, it would be like aletting a couple of the statistics for divorce and possibly heading off a bad marriage from the beginning. My wife and I are total opposites. In the beginning we appreciated each others strengths and felt that we complimented each other in the marriage. Now the differences are irritants. We each hired attorneys, because we feel so strongly about the particulars regarding children, assets and alimony. We have wasted a lot of money having our attoneys write letters back and forth trying to agree on certain matters. I would write an insurance proposal that would include a clause that the parties must agree to mediation/arbitration. They are more likely to agree to this when they are all lovey dovey in the beginning. When the marriage goes off course, the parties tend to want to go for blood, only to find out that the courts will render a decision that could have been reached through mediation. Therefore, the insurance premiums could be kept low and the divorce proceedings managed in a way that benefits the parties, the children and leaves some money on the table that would have been eaten up by attorney fees.

Insurance Divorce is a pretty good idea. But I think if marriage licenses could be renewed like a driver's license; there would be a lot of couples a lot better off. I have had quite a few friends who decided to get a divorce where it started off amicably. After the lawyers got involved some turned pretty nasty. If you think about it, when it comes time to “renew” your marriage license, there is a reaffirmation to your partner that you are happy with the one you’re with when you do renew the license. How many times have we heard, “You don’t love me anymore.”? You could respond, “Baby, I just renewed our marriage license, why would I have done that if I didn’t love you?”. And make the marriage license a privilege. Too many domestic dispute calls from the same couple by the police? Sorry, you cannot renew your marriage license. That might help a lot of battered spouses out there in this country.