Although same sex couples are making a lot of progress on the equality front, there are still obstacles. These are lessening over time, which is great news. After all, the more people that can participate without being financing disadvantaged in the marketplace helps to bring down costs. It’s simple mathematics, when more people buy something, it becomes less expensive.
Buying a home means taking on risk. There’s no guarantee it your life won’t change and that’s what insurance is for. Insurance policies are not investments that grow, but they are investments into your future and for same sex couples, purchasing policies can be different from that of heterosexual couples.
Insurance Same Sex Couples Need for a Home Purchase
When you buy a home as a couple, if you put down less than twenty percent, you’ll be highly likely to be required by have private mortgage insurance, which protects your lender, not you. Aside from that, your lender will require you to get homeowners insurance, and, if you are the only one that gets a mortgage, your partner’s possessions won’t be covered. You’ll need to get a separate policy if only one of you is on the mortgage and/or title to the property.
“Homeowners’ (or hazard) insurance is sold to homeowners when they buy a house. It insures the house against fire, flood, and other acts of destruction. It used to be difficult for unmarried couples to buy homeowners’ insurance together, but this is no longer true. Many companies now write policies for unmarried couples at the same rates offered to married couples.” —Nolo.com
You’ll also need other types of coverage to protect you and your partner if different situations arise. Here are some other insurance policies you ought to seriously consider taking out:
- Life insurance. If you work at a company and have a 401(k), a 403(b), or a pension, you might be able to leave it to your partner. In some instances, you might not be able to name your partner as a beneficiary, this is generally true of pension plans. So, take out term life insurance, about 15 to 20 year term of 10 times your income.
- Health insurance. Sure, it’s the law now that everyone in the country have health insurance, but that doesn’t mean your company has to offer it to your partner. If you work at separate companies and each has a benefits plan, that’s fine; but, if your partner can’t be covered by your plan, get a policy for him or her.
- Long term care insurance. There’s no guarantees in life and people do need long term care, which can easily run between $4,000 to $8,000 or more a month. That’s an untenable situation and you need to plan for the future.
- Title insurance. When you buy a home, there’s a professional entity which searches the property’s title history. It’s supposed to uncover things like liens, unpaid property taxes, and other defects. That doesn’t always happen, so, take out title insurance to protect yourself from potential lawsuits.
In addition to these, if you and your partner purchase a home, you might also purchase a vehicle together. Getting a single insurance policy in both your names will save you money and makes life a little more simple because you’re not dealing with two policies. It might take a bit of effort, but you can find auto insurance to cover both of you under one policy.