Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Does this reduce the value of the marriage contract?

Divorce is costly to the parties getting divorced, in part, to make it less likely that parties will engage in opportunistic behavior ("I gave  him he best years of my life and he traded me in for a younger model.")  Will divorce insurance weaken the incentives to invest in relationship-specific assets, the kind of investments that differentiate marriage from a series of meaningless spot market transactions?
The casualty insurance is designed to provide financial assistance in the form of cash to cover the costs of a divorce, such as legal proceedings or setting up a new apartment or house. It is sold in “units of protection.” Each unit costs $15.99 per month and provides $1,250 in coverage. So, if you bought 10 units, your initial coverage would be $12,500 and you’d be paying $15.99 per month for each of those units. In addition, every year, the company adds $250 in coverage for each unit.
Then, if you get divorced and your policy has matured (see below for the maturation rules), you would send WedLock proof of your divorce. In return, you’d receive a lump sum of cash equivalent to the amount of coverage you had purchased.

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