Estate Planning After Divorce

ESTATE PLANNING AFTER DIVORCE:You Mean There’s More to Do!?! I married my childhood sweetheart many moons ago and I intended this marriage to last ‘til death do us part’.  Unfortunately, many years later – and two lovely daughters later – I was faced with divorce.  This is not the picture of our life as we marry and as we build what we hope is a lifetime of wedded bliss. I know that my experience is not unlike that of many, many women – some with long-term marriages, some who have been married a short time.  I don’t believe anyone enters into such a commitment thinking that it will end.  But there you are. I found, as many of you who are reading this today have found, that I needed to pick up the pieces of my life and move forward with a positive hold on today – and tomorrow.  Part of that tomorrow includes good, mature, logical planning.  This planning includes looking at your will or trust, medical directives, powers of attorney for finances, beneficiary designations.  It is a crucial time to speak with an attorney who specializes in just such legal planning.  Your existing documents likely have named your ex-spouse.  It’s time to make changes.  So, while you don’t want to talk with another attorney after working through the legal system in completing that divorce, you will want to complete your planning for the future.  This article briefly discusses issues that are important to consider after a divorce. Minnesota law states that your appointment of your spouse as your health care agent, the person who has the authority to take care of making health care decisions on your behalf if you can’t, is automatically revoked upon your divorce.  If you have named an alternate person to make such decisions for you, that is now the authorized health care agent.  Take the time to revoke your current Health Care Directive and execute a new one. As in the Health Care Directive, if you have named your spouse to handle financial affairs for you, called an attorney-in-fact, that power is automatically revoked in divorce.  Execute a new Power of Attorney.  This document gives broad powers to the person you have named and you will want to carefully consider and name another responsible attorney-in-fact to help in the event that you become incapacitated. When your divorce is final, your current Will naming your ex-spouse as beneficiary is null and void.  The ex-spouse is now considered as having pre-deceased you.  Take the time to put a new Will in place that names appropriate beneficiaries.  Also, if your spouse was the person named to act as personal representative, you will want to name another person.  The personal representative is that individual whom you nominate to administer your Will at your death.  Take charge of naming that person. Again, under Minnesota law, beneficiary designations such as those in life insurance plans are generally considered revoked following divorce, if you have named your ex-spouse.  Review all life insurance policies and retirement accounts to be sure to make proper changes.  Avoid confusion or having your ex-spouse still on that designation as a beneficiary if that is not what you want. The father of your children is normally preferred by the court as the guardian of any of your minor children if you die before the child is age 18.  This is, of course, unless the father is deemed unfit by a court to care for your child.  You do have the opportunity to name a successor guardian if both you and your ex-spouse die before the child is of majority age. Make careful plans for your future by taking the time to review existing estate planning documents – or by executing those documents now, if you don’t already have them in place.  It is not uncommon to avoid this planning.  I call estate planning “Peace of mind” planning for you and your loved ones.  I believe estate planning is for the living, a kind of insurance against risk.  We carry insurance on our homes, our cars, ourselves with life insurance.  This is another type of insurance.  Once our wishes are put down on paper in a legal manner, we can have that “peace of mind” knowing that we have done what we can.  No one knows what tomorrow will bring – but we can do our best today so that our loved ones are protected in the best way possible. MJ AUSTIN LAW, PLLC Marjorie J. Austin 9800 Shelard Pkwy, Ste 100 Plymouth, MN  55447

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Disclaimer:  This content is informational only.  It is not intended to be used as legal advice.  Please seek the legal advice of an attorney, preferably one who specializes in estate planning.