# Doctor blows up house in divorce-is his wife going to get anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820 "2006-07-17T05:15:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820/21 "2006-07-25T15:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=cerberus] 1. His life insurance won’t pay: suicide. [/QUOTE] That’s not always a given. My life insurance will pay out for a suicide as long as the policy has been held for more than two years. I asked the agent. No, I’m not planning to kill myself. I was just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820/22 "2006-07-25T15:09:56Z")
I wish I could have seen the look on your agent’s face… ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820/23 "2006-07-25T15:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] That’s not always a given. My life insurance will pay out for a suicide as long as the policy has been held for more than two years. I asked the agent. [/QUOTE] That’s pretty standard, actually: [QUOTE=New York Insurance Law Section 3203] (b) (1) A life insurance policy delivered or issued for delivery in this state may exclude or restrict liability in the event of death occurring while the insured is resident in a specified foreign country or countries, but shall not contain any provision excluding or restricting liability in the event of death caused in a certain specified manner, except as a result of: * * * ``` (B) suicide within two years from the date of issue of the policy; ``` [/QUOTE] > **[Legislative Information - LBDC](http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/navigate.cgi)** ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820/24 "2006-07-25T15:31:49Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Not quite. While the townhouse was a designated landmark (and therefore couldn’t have its facade altered without approval) the neighborhood is in an historic district, which restricts what can be rebuilt on the lot. Whatever goes up on that lot can be no taller than the original, and is required to ‘blend’ with the surrounding facades. [/QUOTE] Any new construction might be restricted by lotline setbacks as well. I don’t know about New York, but more than a few people in San Francisco have run into difficulties when they find out that their rebuilt house needs to be at least \*x \* feet from the property lines resulting in an absurdly skinny sliver of a house, whereas if it was a remodel and the original structure was still standing, the house could continue to touch the adjoining buildings on the 25 foot wide lot. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820/25 "2006-07-25T17:47:01Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Any new construction might be restricted by lotline setbacks as well. I don’t know about New York, but more than a few people in San Francisco have run into difficulties when they find out that their rebuilt house needs to be at least \*x \* feet from the property lines resulting in an absurdly skinny sliver of a house, whereas if it was a remodel and the original structure was still standing, the house could continue to touch the adjoining buildings on the 25 foot wide lot. [/QUOTE] I haven’t looked up the NYC Zoning Resolution for that particular block, but there shouldn’t be those type of setback restrictions where the townhouse was located. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-blows-up-house-in-divorce-is-his-wife-going-to-get-anything/364820.md?page=1)