What a Texas decree usually requires, what the coverage costs, and the steps that get a healthy applicant a decision within days.
Last reviewed October 2026 by Dev Gaymes, Texas-licensed life insurance agent, NPN 16654074 · Editorial policy
A Texas divorce decree can require the parent who pays child support to carry life insurance, so the support continues if that parent dies. The decree sets the amount, the length, the beneficiary and often a deadline, and the fastest way to meet it is to apply as soon as you know those terms, using no-exam underwriting if you qualify. For healthy applicants that often means a decision within days rather than weeks.
Child support usually runs until a child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, and indefinitely for a disabled child. If the paying parent dies first, the payments stop, and the parent raising the child is left with a claim against an estate that may not have the money. Texas Family Code section 154.016 addresses that gap: the court may order the paying parent to obtain and maintain life insurance, including decreasing term, that would satisfy the support obligation if that parent dies.
Spousal maintenance works differently. Court-ordered maintenance ends at the death of either party under section 8.056, so when a decree requires insurance tied to payments to a former spouse, it generally comes from terms written into the decree. Whether you are divorcing in a Dallas County family court or anywhere else in Texas, these are the same state statutes.
Before I quote anything, I ask for the insurance paragraph of the decree. These are the details that decide what you buy:
If any of these is unclear, ask your attorney before you apply. Buying the wrong amount, term or ownership arrangement means doing it twice.
When a court sets the amount, section 154.016 tells it to consider the present value of the monthly support remaining until the child turns 18, the present value of the child’s health and dental insurance premiums for the same period, and, for a disabled child, a separate amount. Here is the basic arithmetic on one example:
Example only. The present value a court would use is lower than the plain total, and the decree’s figure controls. Health and dental premiums would be added.
The policy should run until the support ends. For a six-year-old, that means at least twelve years, and longer if support may continue through high school graduation. A term length that ends a year or two after the obligation is safer than one that ends a month early.
Term life is usually the right product for a decree requirement, because the obligation has an end date. These are my own quotes for $500,000 of 20-year term at Preferred non-tobacco. A smaller face amount costs less.
Monthly premiums, 20-year term, $500,000, Texas, Preferred non-tobacco, quoted September 2026 (age 50 quoted October 2026). Illustrative, not a quote.
Health moves the price more than anything else. The same coverage at one carrier for a 45-year-old man:
One carrier, male 45, $500,000, 20-year term, non-tobacco. Illustrative, not a quote.
Term life is never graded. A term applicant is approved, rated or declined. If you have health history, an informal inquiry lets underwriters review it before a formal application, which matters when you are working against a deadline. How an informal inquiry works.
In 2026, one client had diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, and had already been declined by other carriers. They also had a court requirement to meet. We worked two tracks at once. An instant-issue policy for $300,000 was approved and issued the same day, which met the court’s requirement. At the same time, a fully underwritten application went into traditional underwriting for the long-term coverage.
This is one completed case, not a prediction. Instant-issue programs have their own health questions and their own limits on age and amount, and many applicants with this history will not qualify. What it shows is the order to work in when there is a deadline: get compliant coverage in force first, then pursue the best long-term placement. Keep the first policy until the second is issued and your attorney confirms which one satisfies the decree.
The amount, length, beneficiary, ownership, deadline and proof requirement are all I need. I will compare coverage that matches them across 30+ carriers.
Accelerated underwriting replaces the blood and urine exam with prescription history, medical records databases and your answers. Across our 39 completed placements in 2026, the median time from submitted application to carrier decision was four days, and 31 of 39 were decided within a week. When an exam and medical records are required, it usually takes three to eight weeks. What decides the timeline.
Many carriers offer a conditional receipt or temporary insurance agreement when the first premium comes with the application. It can provide limited coverage during underwriting, subject to the conditions in that agreement. Ask whether the carrier offers one.
A misstatement can delay the decision or put the policy at risk in its first two years, which is the opposite of what a court order needs. What not to say when applying.
Once the policy is issued, ask the carrier for a verification of coverage showing the face amount, the owner and the beneficiary, and keep a copy with the policy. If the decree lets the other parent receive lapse notices, ask the carrier how to add them.
I do not interpret decrees or advise on family law; that belongs with your attorney. What I do is take the insurance requirements as written, price policies that match them across 30+ carriers, get the application submitted quickly, and give you the paperwork that shows the coverage is in force. If you already have a policy, I can check whether its amount, length and beneficiary line up with the decree. How a policy review works.
Yes, for child support. Texas Family Code section 154.016 lets a court order a parent who pays child support to obtain and maintain life insurance, including decreasing term, that would cover the support if that parent dies. Court-ordered spousal maintenance ends at the death of either party under section 8.056, so insurance tied to payments to a former spouse usually comes from the terms written into the decree. Your decree controls; your attorney can tell you what it requires.
The decree sets the amount. When a court decides it, section 154.016 tells the court to consider the present value of the remaining monthly child support until the child turns 18, the present value of the child’s health and dental insurance premiums over the same period, and, for a disabled child, an amount set under section 154.306.
For a healthy applicant who qualifies for no-exam underwriting, often within days. Across our 39 completed placements in 2026, the median time from submitted application to carrier decision was four days, and 31 of 39 were decided within a week. Applications that need an exam and medical records usually take three to eight weeks. With health history, an instant-issue policy can sometimes be put in place the same day to meet a deadline while full underwriting continues.
Ask your attorney before relying on it. Group coverage usually ends or changes when you leave the job, and employer plans governed by ERISA pay whoever is named on the plan’s form, whatever a state court order says, unless the form itself is changed. Many people use it only as a stopgap until an individual policy is issued.
Follow the decree. Section 154.016 describes insurance that establishes a trust or an annuity payable to the obligee, the parent receiving support, for the benefit of the child. Insurers generally cannot pay a death benefit directly to a minor, which is one reason decrees rarely name young children outright.
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Send me the insurance paragraph. I will price coverage that matches it and tell you how long underwriting is likely to take.
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