Question: After a bitter legal battle, I was finally granted a divorce. My husband has to pay me $1,500 monthly in alimony until I die or remarry, or he dies. Because my divorce was based on his adultery, I was sure that he would remarry shortly after the divorce, so I asked my lawyer to make sure my ex was required to insure his life so that, if he died, my alimony would be protected. I am 57 and can work only part time; he is 61 and has other insurance in place.

But my lawyer told me that I couldn’t get the insurance, and he didn’t ask for it at trial. My mother, who is 81, told me that if I couldn’t afford it, she would pay for a policy if I could get it. My lawyer told me I had no right to even buy the coverage myself on my husband. I have friends whose husbands were ordered to provide them with life insurance and can’t understand why my husband wasn’t required to do the same.

Answer: Nor can we. Unless your state of residence is different from every other state in the nation, we believe your alimony award gives you an insurable interest in your husband’s life that is sufficient to allow you to have insurance on it.

The basis of the ability to purchase any kind of insurance is that the purchaser have an “insurable interest" in what the insurance covers. For example, you don’t own it and would suffer no economic loss if the house burned. On the other hand, if you lent money to your neighbor and held a note secured by a mortgage on your neighbor’s home, you would have an “insurable interest” to the extent you were owed money.

Similarly, if you wish to purchase a policy of coverage on another’s life, you must have a vested interest in that person staying alive (here, you depend on your former husband to support you), and you would suffer financial loss if he died (here, your alimony would terminate). The insurable interest must exist when the life insurance coverage is purchased, but not at the time of death.

The settled law of the states we researched provides that former spouses who receive alimony have insurable interests in the lives of the spouses who pay them. And even when not agreed upon by the divorcing couple, the courts have the power in appropriate cases to require a payor spouse to keep up a policy of life insurance to secure the payments being made.

What to do? Based on the facts as you recite them, it seems that your lawyer dropped the ball. Since you have a current insurable interest in your former husband’s life, assuming the Court order doesn’t deal with life insurance issues in a way that is contrary to your position, we suggest you find a lawyer who understands these issues and seek an order of the Court requiring your ex to submit to a medical examination so you can purchase coverage on his life to secure your alimony, or seek to have him name you as beneficiary of the policy he currently has in place, If you own the policy, though, you won’t have to worry about late premium payments or changes of beneficiary. To determine how much coverage you may need, go to www.flyingsolo.com and click on “useful links” to find a calculator.