Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: COBRA after a divorce runs on two separate 60-day clocks, and missing the first one is fatal: (1) someone — you, your ex, or the decree’s lawyer, but legally it is on the qualified beneficiary — must notify the employer’s plan of the divorce within 60 days, or the continuation right is simply gone; (2) only then does the 60-day election window open, running from the later of losing coverage or receiving the election notice. And the number people know — 18 months — is wrong here: divorce is a 36-month qualifying event.
Health coverage is the most time-sensitive asset in the settlement.
Bridging coverage to a job, the marketplace, or Medicare is a solvable planning problem. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
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Why the first clock is the killer
Employers learn about terminations automatically; nobody tells the plan about your divorce unless you do. The notification is a letter or the plan’s form — not a phone call you can’t prove — and the safe practice is sending it the week the decree enters, alongside the beneficiary-form sweep. Legal separation triggers the same rights in plans that recognize it; check the plan document, not the HR person’s recollection.
Whether to actually take COBRA
Thirty-six months of continuation is a bridge, priced at full cost plus 2% — compare it against a marketplace plan (losing coverage is a special-enrollment event there too, with its own 60-day window) before reflexively electing. The right answer often differs for a 40-year-old and a 62-year-old bridging to the Medicare window. All the divorce-year dates in one place: the divorce timing calculator.