Updating your estate plan after a divorce

After you’ve negotiated the terms of your divorce judgment, and you are officially divorced, you will still have a lot of loose ends to tie up. One often overlooked issue that needs to be addressed, is updating your estate plan.

Generally, an estate plan will include a trust or will, a durable power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, and a deed that avoids probate. The documents that consist of your estate plan, will vary based upon your needs. However, if you have minor children, most times your estate plan will include a trust. A trust allows for more in depth planning, and staggered distributions, so that your child does not receive a windfall at the age of eighteen (18). A trust also avoids the hassles of Probate.

Most likely, if you already had an estate plan while you were married, your spouse is in the first fiduciary position for each document. It is important to change the documents, to replace your spouse with another individual.

While updating your estate plan, you will also want to update your beneficiary designations on all of your accounts to remove your spouse.

For more information on creating an estate plan, contact our office at (586) 264-3756 or email kristenb@smdalaw.com.

Related Posts: Post-Divorce Checklist, Does Moving Out of the Marital Home Mean You Are Abandoning the Home?, You’ve decided to file for divorce – now what?, Grounds for Annulment