As time goes on, life changes and the estate plan you made five or ten years ago may no longer match your current situation, if you have not kept up.  In particular, after you begin your divorce proceedings, and especially after they're finalized, you may want to revisit your estate plans to ensure your assets are passing to those you would want to receive them and not to your Ex or soon-to-be Ex! Plus, you absolutely want to update beneficiaries, healthcare power of attorney and power of attorney documents to reflect your new reality.

Once your divorce is finalized, any laws allowing a right to a spousal elective share will also be finalized. However, you will continue to have obligations towards minor children or other obligations as decided during the divorce proceeding which your estate plan cannot work around. However, you can ensure that your estate accurately reflects your new reality and ensure probating it is streamlined so assets go where they should as long as you chat with your attorney during that transition and get things updated. Further, if your assets are now above the federal estate tax exemption (currently $11.2 million for an individual), then you may need to make arrangements to prevent your assets from being subject to taxes.

Certainly, if you have minor children, you want your will to name a guardian for those children. While the other parent will be considered as the sole guardian, you can challenge that beyond the grave, and if that parent is not capable or if they are deceased too, you certainly should name someone you trust to care for your children.

Your Will or Trust is one of the first documents you should update, ensuring that the named executor and/or trustees and beneficiaries are exactly as you want it. You'll then want to change the agents on your various healthcare documents and financial documents, as well as the beneficiaries of your Trust (if it is a revocable trust) as well as life insurance policies.  Make sure to remove your Ex-spouse from joint bank accounts and payable-on-death accounts. If these documents are not updated, you may find yourself in a situation where your ex-spouse takes total control of financial and healthcare decisions for you when you're incapacitated.  And Imagine this... if these documents are not updated, your ex-spouse may end up inheriting assets you meant for someone else.

Now if you have embarked on a second marriage, you may want to consider a premarital agreement. This is a document that will allow you to maintain your assets just as they were before you got married. So, if you pass first, your estate will continue as if never married, leaving assets to children from a previous marriage, which prevents your new spouse from taking assets from your children, thereby protecting your estate.

ALERT: During your divorce, but especially after it is complete, it is wise to sit down with your estate planning attorney to review your assets and new goals, and edit or craft a plan that will meet your new situation. But BEWARE:  If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse used the same attorney to plan together, the lawyer will have an ethical conflict that both of you must waive before the lawyer can move forward in representing either of you, OR BOTH! The experienced lawyers at TW Estate Planning are here to help you every step of the way and with every new change in your life.  They can easily help you in the whatever situation you face.