After Divorce Update your Will

Updating your Will after your divorce is likely low on your “to do” list. Divorce itself is so wrought with paperwork – legal documents, correspondence, bank and financial records, reports – it’s not surprising that a person, upon receiving their final Divorce Decree, is hardly thinking about what happens when they die.

Please, think again. A divorce is not complete until every aspect of a couple’s life has been separated – custody rights, assets, financial matters, retirement accounts, life insurance AND the Last Will and Testament.

Divorce is already a type of death of your previous life. It can be emotionally difficult to pick up those final pieces and remake your Will to reflect this. But it must be done. Why? Because if you don’t, that very spouse you spent so much energy, time and money divorcing may still end up with part or all of your estate when you die, depending on how your current Will is written.

As an attorney, I prompt each divorce client to rewrite their Will after the decree. Fewer than 25% attend to this within six months.

Another area of neglect is in not changing beneficiaries on your retirement accounts and life insurance policies. Few people realize that the designated beneficiary on a cash account, retirement account or life insurance policy may be honored REGARDLESS of divorce or other change in wishes or Wills without specific provisions.

Let’s call this the “After Divorce” phase of divorce. Or, the final checklist phase. Before you can say “All Systems Go” toward your new, single life, don’t forget this last, small but important detail in your divorce. Update your beneficiaries and Will, and your heirs will thank you.