Going through a divorce can be an incredibly emotional time. Not only do you have to grieve the loss of one of the most important relationships in your life, but this is also a very complicated legal and financial matter. You’ll need to consider how you wish to divide your assets, whether or not you want to seek alimony, and even how to split custody of your children. However, there may be one incredibly important aspect you’re forgetting about – your estate plan. Unfortunately, many divorcing couples fail to take the impact of this process in their estate plan into consideration. As such, if you are divorcing, you’ll want to keep reading to learn the impact the dissolution of your marriage can have on your estate and the importance of working with a Medina, Ohio estate planning lawyer to update your documents.
What Impact Will a Divorce Have on My Estate Plan?
Going through a divorce can have a considerable impact on the terms and conditions you’ve established as part of your estate plan. First and foremost, in Ohio, a divorce automatically revokes any assets or Beneficiary Designations in your ex-spouse’s name. Instead, the assets will be divided among the remainder of your beneficiaries. This is also the case if you had granted your ex any Powers of Attorney. However, when these are revoked, it will be as though you do not have one, meaning your next of kin will be responsible for making these financial or medical decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated and unable to do so yourself.
What Updates Should I Make to My Estate Plan After My Divorce?
Following a divorce, taking the time to update your estate plan is critical. First and foremost, you should ensure you update who serves as the executor of your estate if you had previously appointed your spouse to this position. If you had named your spouse, the divorce will nullify this appointment. However, this means you have no one to serve as your executor. As such, it’s important to ensure you appoint someone to this role to carry out these important responsibilities.
In addition, you should examine your Will to determine how to reallocate the assets you intended to leave to your spouse. In some instances, the changes may be as simple as adding a codicile to divide all assets previously intended for your spouse to your children. However, more substantial changes may require you to revoke your current document and create an entirely new Will.
This is also the case for any accounts that previously had your spouse listed as the Beneficiary, like insurance policies, bank accounts, or investment accounts. You should also update your Advanced Healthcare Directive to ensure you have named someone to serve in this position should you become incapacitated.
As you can see, there are a significant number of factors you must take into consideration when planning your estate. At Krause Law, our dedicated legal team is here to guide you through ever step of this process. We understand how difficult it can be to navigate a divorce and update your estate plan at the same time. That is why we are dedicated to making this process as simple as possible for you. Contact us today to learn more.
