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Should I take out a life insurance policy for my estranged father? My father is in his mid-50s and doesn’t have the best health. We are not very close. We text occasionally, and I see him maybe twice a year.
He is not married. However, he has lived with the same woman for 12 years. I’m not sure how common-law marriages work, so I’m wondering if the funeral costs will fall to me instead of her, since I am his only child.
If so, I’d like to be prepared with a life insurance policy, as I know he doesn’t have one. And if I do pursue this, how do I approach my estranged father about this?
-C.
Dear C.,
You won’t be forced to pay for your father’s funeral if you don’t sign a contract with a funeral home. But since you’re the only child, you’re probably your father’s next of kin, even though he’s lived with his partner for 12 years. Very few states recognize common-law marriage. Even in those that do, rarely will a relationship meet the criteria, no matter how long the couple lived together.
Suppose you refused to pay for your father’s final expenses. If his estate didn’t have the money to cover the costs and no one else stepped up to pay, the county coroner or another local agency would probably handle the burial or cremation. There wouldn’t be ‘t be a funeral.
So before I get to your question about whether to buy life insurance on your father, my question for you is: What do you think you owe him?
I don’t think biology obligates you to pay for your dad’s funeral if he was never very involved with your life or if he did something truly egregious. But since you do have a relationship, albeit a strained one, I’ll assume that you feel some responsibility.
If you opted to buy a life insurance policy on your father, you’d need his consent. But if the goal is only to cover final expenses, I’m not sure that buying life insurance is the right move.
A $10,000 policy for a 55-year-old male would…
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