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Income Taxes - Effective Tax Rates Differing from Prevailing Federal Corporate Income Tax Rates (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	8 Months Ended		4 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	4 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 Successor Ambac [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Successor Ambac [Member] Internal Revenue Service [Member]	Apr. 30, 2013 Predecessor Ambac [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Predecessor Ambac [Member]	Apr. 30, 2013 Predecessor Ambac [Member] Internal Revenue Service [Member]
Pre-tax from continuing operations [Line Items]
Tax on income from continuing operations at statutory rate	$ 179,311		$ 1,171,812	$ (89,777)
Reorganization income			(712,581)
Tax bankruptcy adjustments			285,734
Tax-exempt interest	(11,988)		(4,996)	(17,795)
Valuation allowance	(160,064)		(1,110,230)	107,502
IRS Settlement					370,996
Other, net	255		20	2,919
Tax expense on income from continuing operations	$ 7,514		$ 755	$ 2,849
Tax on income from continuing operations at statutory rate, tax rate	35.00%		35.00%	35.00%
Reorganization income, tax rate	0.00%		(21.30%)
Tax bankruptcy adjustments, tax rate	0.00%		8.50%
Tax-exempt interest, tax rate	(2.30%)		(0.10%)	6.90%
Valuation allowance, tax rate	(31.20%)		(33.20%)	(41.90%)
IRS Settlement, tax rate		0.00%			11.10%
Other, net, tax rate	0.00%		0.00%	(1.10%)
Tax expense on income from continuing operations, tax rate	1.50%			(1.10%)

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