After Divorce, Update Your Will and Estate Plan

Following a divorce, you should update your Will and any Estate Plans to reflect any changes. (e.g. division of property, assets, and debts).

Property, assets, and debts will be shared after a divorce, as will custody and support for any children. Because of these significant changes in your life, you’ll need to revise your last will and testament and estate plan after the divorce is official.

Will

Divorce alters your family structure, so update your will appropriately. Beneficiaries may be added or removed, as well as property obtained or lost during the divorce. If your spouse was named executor in your will, you should appoint a new executor. You may amend an existing will with a codicil or create a new will.

The Living Trust

You may want to change who gets property, what gets property, and who controls your living trust. Most living trusts are amendable.

Policy on Life Insurance

You may want to modify the beneficiaries on your life insurance policy, such as eliminating your spouse.

Durable Power of Attorney

If your spouse holds power of attorney over your company, finances, legal matters, and health care choices, you may want to delegate this authority to someone else. A health care directive is a kind of power of attorney for medical treatment.

Change of Legal Name

If you want to change your name after a divorce, you must petition for a legal name change either during or after the divorce. A marriage settlement agreement makes obtaining a legal name change considerably simpler than the traditional legal name change procedure. When you change your name, you must update all of your key papers to reflect your new identity.