Senior Associate
Divorce will bring major changes to your life. Many of these are obvious and may come in the form of child custody orders and alimony payments. However, spouses often overlook their estate plans and how the end of marriage may impact them. If your divorce has been finalized, then it’s time to start reviewing and updating your estate plan. Failure to do so could have unintended consequences and cause avoidable problems. Let the estate planning attorneys of LaFountain & Wollman P.C. guide you.
Before you file for divorce
It’s important to point out that once divorce paperwork has been filed, spouses won’t be able to change beneficiaries and move assets around. The intent of this prohibition is to prevent spouses from dispensing with marital assets to which the other spouse may have a claim. Before you file for divorce, consider making revisions like updating life insurance policies and changing beneficiaries to investment accounts and retirement plans. You can also change powers of attorney and health care proxies. Our firm can assist with this process.
Once the divorce has been finalized
After the divorce becomes official, and subject to any court orders the judge issued, take these steps to revise your estate plan:
Change or replace your will
Under Massachusetts law, divorce automatically removes a former spouse as a beneficiary for certain documents like a last will and testament. The ex-spouse is also removed as a personal representative. But you still need to revise your will to make sure your property is distributed to someone else, as you see fit. Otherwise, state intestacy laws may decide for you. Your estate planning lawyer may recommend executing a new will to accomplish this.
Revoke trusts
If you executed any trusts naming your ex-spouse as either a beneficiary or fiduciary (trustee), state law might not automatically revoke that individual from the trust instrument, depending on how it is written and structured. Also bear in mind that during divorce, spouses must divide their marital assets. Therefore if you created and funded a trust or trusts with marital assets, you will need to re-fund them with property you own individually after your divorce. Review all trust documents with an attorney for further guidance.
Changing your beneficiary designations
You may have previously designated your spouse as beneficiary under such instruments as:
- Life insurance policies, retirement plans, annuities, and similar assets
You need to update these immediately to ensure your ex-spouse doesn’t have the right to make major decisions for you and that significant assets won’t pass to your former spouse upon your death. Obtain all records related to the above items and talk to your estate planning attorney.
Changing your guardianships
Your will may have named someone in your ex-spouse’s family to be the guardian of your child if something were to happen before the child reaches adulthood. You should review the will to determine if such an individual was named. If so, you may wish to replace the guardian with someone else. We can help with this process.
Tax planning
Finally, take a look at any tax planning you might have done prior to the divorce that was based on your marital status. Estate taxes could become an issue without careful planning. However there may be ways to minimize estate taxes and use other strategies to obtain more tax-related benefits.
Count On Us For Comprehensive Estate Planning After Your Divorce
Our experienced estate planning attorneys are ready to walk you through the challenges that come with estate planning after divorce. We represent every client with an eye towards developing a customized plan that will help meet their unique goals. To learn more or to get started, connect with LaFountain & Wollman P.C. today.