No one ever plans on getting divorced, but it is a fact of life that can happen to anyone. You may think that you have all of your affairs in order after your divorce. However, you should take the time to revisit your estate plan to make sure that it still does what you want it to.
Under most circumstances, any provisions in your Will that leave property to an ex-spouse will be stripped from the Will. Your ex-spouse will not inherit from you. However, that leaves the question open as to who inherits those assets. If your Will has a remainder clause, the most likely scenario is that the assets go to whomever is named in that clause. However, if your Will does not have a remainder clause, then the laws of intestate succession determine who gets the property. In most cases, that means the assets will go to your closest living relative whether that person is named elsewhere in your Will or not. For many people, that means their children will receive the property. However, if you don’t have children, your parents might be next in line. Either way, you do not get to decide who inherits your property.
Instead of leaving your property up to a court to decide, you should visit an estate planning attorney after a divorce. That is the only way for you to have the ultimate say in who inherits the property that you had previously planned on leaving your ex-spouse.
Stephen A. Mendel, Estate Planning Attorney
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