My wife provides family health insurance coverage. We are just about to finalize our joint divorce paperwork, and I’m getting worried about all of the things I have to do immediately, including getting my own health insurance. My company is small and does not offer coverage. My wife’s company will kick me off insurance as soon as we are divorced. What is the best, fastest way to handle this?
While you shouldn’t delay the inevitable for too long, you do have some breathing room. First, you will not be kicked off until your wife notifies her employer that you are divorced. You are filing a joint divorce, so it seems to me the two of you are able to get along to some degree. Ask her not to notify her employer of the divorce until the divorce becomes final and absolute.
The mere act of filing the joint paperwork does not give you an immediate hearing. Depending on the county you live in, you will have to wait anywhere from two to 10 weeks for a hearing date. When you appear for the hearing, assuming the judge finds your agreement fair and reasonable, 30 days after the hearing a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will enter. This starts the clock on the so-called nisi period.
The nisi period is a 90-day cooling-off period. The legislature wants you to be really sure you want the divorce. There are only a few important things to know about the nisi period. If, during this period, you decide the divorce was a mistake and you want to stay married, you do not need to get remarried but, rather, just revoke the divorce judgment. If Dec. 31 happens during your nisi period, you are still legally married at the end of the year so you and your former spouse are allowed to file a joint income tax return for that year. You cannot legally marry someone else during the nisi period. Most important to you right now, the divorce is not final, so you can stay on your spouse’s health insurance.
I know you feel there is a lot to get done in a short span of time. Move the new health insurance further down on the list because in your worst case scenario, you are still insured for the next four months plus however long it takes from the date of filing the papers to your actual hearing date.
When that time does arrive, Massachusetts and federal law require the employer to permit you to elect COBRA coverage for a period of either 18 or 36 months. You have 30 days to elect and pay for that coverage, buying you a little more time. COBRA is often cost prohibitive so go on the Massachusetts Health Connector website and find a policy that suits your needs.
