As a parent, you want to ensure the security of your child’s future, especially if you or your spouse won’t be there to provide for them. If you are getting a divorce, you may need to make changes to your estate plan. If you already have a will, you must update it accordingly. Divorce is a complicated process and you just want to concentrate on life instead of legal business. This is where you should hire a divorce attorney who can help you with both the divorce and estate planning changes. You can find a divorce attorney here.
Estate Planning After Divorce
While you want to update your estate plan with a focus on life following divorce, you can start updating it even before the completion of your divorce. Indeed, it’s best to update some aspects of the plan before your divorce. The durable financial power of attorney is one that must be updated at this stage. This legal document lets you designate somebody to handle your financial affairs when you become incapacitated. If the document names your spouse and you wouldn’t want him or her to manage your finances, you must revoke the power of attorney. This change should be sent to related financial institutions.
In addition, you must also update your advance healthcare directives, particularly a healthcare power of attorney. Such a document lets you appoint an individual to make treatment-related decisions on your behalf if you cannot make this decision for yourself. Typically, this person is a spouse, but the divorce may want you to change this individual.
When get a divorce, you also want to change your wills or trusts, so they reflect your new marital situation. Perhaps you don’t want to leave anything to your ex your estate plan. Thankfully, state law allows this if you have been divorced since the execution of the will or trust. Thus, you must execute a new will and change your trust right away to reflect your new intentions.
Updating Your Beneficiary Designations
Aside from making updates to your estate documents, you should also update your beneficiary designations on accounts such as life insurance policies. As part of the divorce judgment, you may need to maintain life insurance with your ex as a beneficiary to secure financial obligations such as child custody when you die. After your divorce, change your life insurance beneficiary according to what you are legally permitted. If maintaining life insurance with your ex is a must, review the policy each year, decrease the benefit amount to the financial obligation amount, and change the beneficiary once the law allows you to.
