Estate Planning Steps to Take After Your Divorce

Separating from a spouse and going through a divorce brings about all sorts of life changes for both parties, and often for their children, friends, and family members, too. While there are often a wide range of issues to deal with during and immediately after a divorce, it is essential to add estate planning to your list of things that you need to do. Either revisiting your estate plan, or working with an estate planning lawyer for the first time, can allow you to make plans for yourself (and your children, depending on your circumstances) in the next phase of your life after your divorce.

The following are important estate planning documents to revisit after your divorce.

Beneficiaries in Your Will 

If you have a will and named your ex as a beneficiary to inherit your assets, you will likely want to change this. In most cases where there is a major change to a will, it is easier to make a new will than to revise the will by adding a codicil (which is an addition to a will, usually used for a minor change to the document).

Beneficiaries Identified in Your Revocable Living Trust

Do you have a revocable living trust with beneficiaries? This type of trust allows you to make changes to it during your lifetime, so you can remove your ex-spouse as a beneficiary or decide to cancel the trust altogether, depending on your circumstances. An estate planning lawyer can discuss the best route forward with you.

Advance Health Care Directive: Your Health Care Agent

In a Georgia Advance Health Care Directive, most married people have named their spouse as their health care agent. A health care agent is authorized to make important medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. In nearly all divorces, spouses will want to appoint a new health care agent. You can discuss amending your advance directive with your estate planning lawyer.

Beneficiary Designations

Finally, you should discuss all existing beneficiary designations with your estate planning lawyer; payable-on-death beneficiary designations associated with your bank accounts, as well as beneficiaries you have identified in connection with your life insurance, pension payouts, and other policies or accounts. For most married people, their spouse is the named beneficiary. When a divorce happens, most spouses will want to change the beneficiary. There are some reasons to leave an ex as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, however; if you share minor children, your ex-spouse may need to be the beneficiary in order to provide for your kids in the event of your death.

Contact a Gwinnett County Estate Planning Lawyer

Are you currently going through a divorce, or was your divorce recently finalized? If so, it is important to work closely with an estate planning lawyer to ensure that your estate plan is up to date. An experienced Gwinnett County estate planning attorney at Bowman Law Firm can speak with you today about your estate plan and updating or revising any and all necessary documents in light of your divorce. Contact our firm today for assistance.

Sources:

law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-53/

aging.georgia.gov/