How Divorce Affects Your Estate Plan

Divorce and Your Estate Plan

The end of a marriage affects everything from your living arrangements to who makes decisions for you in the case of emergencies. But if you are separated or considering ending your marriage, you may not have considered how divorce affects your estate plan. Knowing how divorce and estate planning intersect under Connecticut law can keep you from making mistakes that could give your former spouse more than you ever intended.

Surviving Spouse Rights for Estranged Couples

Most happily married couples give one another a leading role in their estate plan. If you did your estate planning while married, you may have named your spouse as:

• Beneficiary
• Executor (or personal representative)
• Power of attorney
• Healthcare advocate
• Trustee

Even if you haven’t executed a Last Will and Testament, Connecticut law awards a surviving spouse some, if not all, of your assets after your death. Your spouse may automatically receive your marital home, vehicles, bank accounts, depending on the way the properties are titled, and retirement accounts, and insurance benefits, depending on who you named as beneficiary.

How Divorce Impacts Your Estate Plan

But if your marriage has soured to the point of divorce, you probably won’t want your soon-to-be-ex-spouse to have that kind of control over your assets and affairs. The fact that you are estranged or even legally separated from your spouse does not affect these laws. Under Connecticut law, if you do not have a will, your spouse’s inheritance and right to a spousal share may continue until a final divorce judgment is entered, even if you have been separated for many years.

When the Judgement of Divorce is entered, Connecticut law automatically revokes any designation naming your former spouse as an agent, power of attorney, or healthcare surrogate, unless the document explicitly says otherwise. It also revokes any property award included in a will executed during the marriage. (In the rare event that you and your spouse remarry, those provisions will be reinstated.)

But other parts of your estate plan will remain in place, such as the provision naming your spouse as executor, trustee, or trust beneficiary. Because Connecticut is an “all property” state, your Connecticut family court judge could award your spouse a vested interest in your trust assets. In addition, under federal law, any federal ERISA retirement accounts (including most employer-funded accounts), could even be paid out to your ex-spouse even after your Judgment of Divorce is entered if you haven’t executed a new beneficiary designation. That is why it is so important to update your estate plan and if you are getting a divorce.

What Estate Planning Documents to Change at the Start of Divorce

If you are in an adversarial or high-conflict divorce, you may not want your spouse to have access to your information or assets while the case is pending. The last thing you want is for an accident to happen giving your estranged spouse authority over your affairs while your divorce is pending. That’s why you want to begin updating part of your estate plan early in your separation or divorce process.

Specifically, you should consider revoking your spouse’s power of attorney, healthcare proxy designation, and advanced directives, and execute new estate planning documents naming someone else to act as your agent. This will terminate your spouse’s authority to affect your assets, finances, or treatment when your relationship is at its lowest point.

Revisit Your Estate Planning After Divorce

Even if you are on good terms with your spouse and resolve your marriage through mediation or collaborative divorce, you still need to update your estate plan after divorce. That’s because the Connecticut laws that revoke an ex-spouse’s right to inherit through your will don’t do anything to fill the gaps left behind. You may also need to wait to update your beneficiary designations or make changes to joint accounts until after your divorce is complete, and the judgment has been entered, if the joint accounts require both spouses’ consent or approval. However, doing the work to update your estate plan with an experienced probate attorney while the divorce is pending will make sure nothing unwanted happens as you start your next chapter.

Get Help from an Experienced Divorce and Estate Planning Attorney

Coordinating your divorce and estate planning is important to ensure your assets and your interests are protected during and after the divorce process is complete. The attorneys at Lawrence & Jurkiewicz, LLC have experience handling both divorce and probate issues. We represent clients in Hartford and Litchfield Counties. Please call us at 860-626-1333 or contact us at your convenience to discuss your divorce and estate planning today.