Divorce is a Key Time to Revisit Your Estate Plan

While the Divorce if PendingIn the stress and turmoil of a divorce proceeding, manyforget about revisiting their estate plan.If you died today, would you be happy with the distribution of yourproperty based on your current Last Will and Testament or Trust? Or if you haveno Trust or Last Will and Testament, would you want your spouse inheriting yourprobate estate? Would you want your spouse making your health care decisions foryou were you to become incapacitated? If you have a financial power of attorneythat gives your spouse authority to make financial transactions on your behalf,are you comfortable with him or her retaining that authority? If you answered ‘no’to any of these questions, then you should seek out the guidance of an estateplanning attorney to ensure that your estate plan is in line with yourwishes.  In addition, you should look atthe beneficiary designations on your life insurance policies and retirementaccounts and consider modifying them.After the Divorce is FinalMany of the same concerns one should have regarding estateplanning during a divorce are present when it is concluded.  Are your planning documents up to date? Dothey reflect your wishes? Are the beneficiary designations on your lifeinsurance policies and retirement accounts up to date? After a divorce is a keytime to sit down with an estate planner and make sure you have the requisitedocuments in place and that they represent your wishes.