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Schedule IV - Reinsurance (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	4 Months Ended	8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Successor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Direct Premiums Written		$ (80,309)	$ (37,572)	$ (288,310)
Ceded Premiums Written		(7,810)	(3,001)	(6,842)
Assumed Premiums Written		0	0	0
Premiums Written, Net		$ (72,499)	$ (34,571)	$ (281,468)
Percentage of Amount Assumed to Net		0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Predecessor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Direct Premiums Written	$ (14,125)
Ceded Premiums Written	(1,098)
Assumed Premiums Written	0
Premiums Written, Net	$ (13,027)
Percentage of Amount Assumed to Net	0.00%

X

- Definition

Premiums Written Financial Guarantee Insurance Contracts Percentage Of Amount Assumed To Net

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ambc_
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Balance Type:	na
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X

- Definition

Amount of written premiums assumed from other entities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 605
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)(2),(c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486672&loc=d3e27261-158547

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Amount of written premiums ceded to other entities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 605
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b),(c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486672&loc=d3e27261-158547

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Section 17
-Article 12

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Balance Type:	debit
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X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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X

- Definition

Amount, before premiums ceded to other entities and premiums assumed by the entity, of premiums written.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 605
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b),(c)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486672&loc=d3e27261-158547

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Section 17
-Article 12

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X

- Definition

Amount, after premiums ceded to other entities and premiums assumed by the entity, of premiums written.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 605
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b),(c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486672&loc=d3e27261-158547

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Section 17
-Article 12

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X

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