"If you are going through a divorce don’t overlook critical updates to your ESTATE plan before, during, and after your divorce is final."

Getting Divorced? Don’t Overlook Your ESTATE Plan!

Going through divorce can be an overwhelming experience that impacts nearly every facet of your life, including ESTATE planning. Yet, with so much to deal with during the divorce process, many people overlook updating their plan either before, during, or after a divorce. Something to keep in mind is that until your divorce is final, your marriage is legally in full effect. This means if you die or become incapacitated while your divorce is ongoing and you haven’t updated your ESTATE plan, your soon-to-be ex-spouse could end up with complete control over your life and assets. And that’s generally not a good idea, nor what you would want.

Updating your financial and medical power of attorney documents is the most critical change you need to make as soon as you know a divorce is coming. If you were to become incapacitated by illness or injury during your divorce, the very person you are paying big money to legally remove from your life would be granted complete authority over all your legal, financial, and medical decisions. Since most people typically name their spouse as their decision maker in these documents, it’s critical to take action – even before you begin the divorce process – and grant this authority to someone else, especially if things are anything less than amicable between the two of you.

As soon as you know you are getting divorced, update beneficiary designations for assets that do not pass through a will or trust, such as bank accounts, life insurance policies, and retirement plans. Due to restrictions on changing beneficiary designations after divorce is filed, the timing of your beneficiary change is particularly critical. Updating your will, or creating one for the first time, and naming someone other than your soon-to-be ex-spouse as your executor is also an important update to make.

During the divorce process, your primary planning goal is limiting your soon-to-be ex’s control over your life and assets should you die or become incapacitated before your divorce is final. In light of this, the individuals to whom you grant power of attorney, designate to receive your 401k, name as executor of your will, or add to your plan in any other way while the divorce is ongoing are often just temporary. Once your divorce is final and your marital property has been divided up, you should revisit all your planning documents and update them based on your new asset profile and living situation.

If you are going through a divorce don’t overlook critical updates to your ESTATE plan before, during, and after your divorce is final. At PURPOSE Law Firm, we are passionate about helping families not only protect their financial assets, but their human, spiritual and intellectual assets as well. We believe that a properly designed ESTATE plan can keep your family out of Court, out of conflict, and keep your children out of the care of strangers. At PURPOSE Law Firm we educate and empower you to make the best decisions for you and your family.