Whether or not you can keep your health insurance after the divorce will depend on two factors, one of which is in your control and one of which is not. If you are currently on your spouse's health insurance, then they are required by the Rule 411 Automatic Restraining Order to maintain you on your health insurance during the pendency of the Divorce case. However, at the end of the case when you are divorced your status as an eligible dependent on their plan may change.

If your spouse's employer participates in a self-insured plan (usually only the case with very large employers), then the plan is covered by Federal law and not State law, in which case the employer can ignore the Massachusetts' law requiring eligibility of ex-spouses. This means that if your spouse's employer has a self-insured plan then no matter what the Court order states you will likely be terminated from your spouse's health insurance upon the divorce. At that time you will be eligible for COBRA, which is a program that allows for continuation of health insurance coverage for a set period of time so long as you pay 102% of the full premium.

If, however, your spouse's plan is not a self-insured plan then you will be eligible to continue coverage so long as you pay attention to the second factor, which is whether or not your Judgment of Divorce includes language requiring coverage. It is very important to consult with an attorney regarding the proper language to include in a Divorce Agreement to ensure that you will be eligible to continue to health insurance, if your spouse's employer allows for that option.

For more information on how to maintain or find health insurance after a divorce, check out this brochure prepared and distributed by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and Health Law Advocates entitled Staying Healthy: A Guide to Keeping Health Insurance After Divorce.

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days.

This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened.

In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects:

1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, because you would then technically be married to two people.

2. If the Nisi period crosses December 31, then you are considered married for that tax year which means you must file under "joint" or "married, filing separately" and cannot file as "single".

3. Under some health insurance plans you may not be able to stay on your ex's health insurance (as explained further in our previous post, Will I be able to keep my health insurance after the divorce?), but at least during the Nisi period you can stay on the health insurance.