What Happens to Your Will After Divorce?

If you’re considering divorce, or have already filed papers, chances are you know that many aspects of your life will be affected. One area that is often overlooked is a person's will. While the process of creating a will may not be top of mind during this stressful time, it’s important to understand how a divorce can impact your will and estate planning. 

Before we dive into the details, let’s review what a will does. A last will and testament lays out who should inherit your possessions after you pass away. It also allows you to designate guardians for minor children and appoint an executor to manage your estate upon death. This document becomes effective only after death, so any changes made now won't take effect until then. 

Now that we’ve established what a will does, let’s look at how divorce affects it. In most cases, if the couple had created a joint last will and testament before filing for divorce, the document becomes void and invalid upon completion of the divorce.

This means that if one spouse were to pass away while they were still separated but not yet divorced, their spouse would still benefit from their joint last will and testament as planned before filing for divorce.

However, once a couple is officially divorced all assets in the joint wills become invalidated as well as any provisions made regarding beneficiaries or executors located therein.  

To ensure that their wishes are honoured after death, couples must create individual wills once they are divorced to ensure that their wishes remain intact regardless of situation or status change. Even if you are separated but not yet divorced it is advisable to create a will as soon as possible to protect yourself against potential changes in marital status down the line.

Additionally, if there have been any changes in circumstances since creating your original joint last will and testament such as adding new assets or having additional children it is also recommended that you create a will at this time as well so that all your current wishes are accurately reflected therein.

Once again, this document would become void should you choose to remarry later down the line but creating an individualised version would provide peace of mind knowing your wishes would be carried out even after separation or divorce has taken place under current circumstances when all other documents become invalidated with such events taking place. 

As discussed above it’s important for couples considering or going through a divorce to understand how this process might affect their wills — especially if they had previously created joint wills prior entering separation proceedings with each other. Making sure to update all documents accordingly can help ensure that both spouses’ wishes are honoured upon death regardless of any changes in marital status occurring during one's lifetime.

Taking the time now to review these documents can go a long way towards making sure all legal matters have been properly addressed before anything ever happens. Doing so now can alleviate potential headaches down the line, ensuring everyone involved remains protected while also providing peace of mind knowing everything is taken care of properly.

Speak to our knowledgable team if you require any help with your Will.