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Reevaluate your estate plan when going through a divorce

Reevaluate your estate plan when going through a divorce

Divorce is a time when you need to evaluate various aspects of your life. You might need to redo everything from your budget to your estate plan. In fact, there are some very important estate planning documents that you need to review when you are going through a divorce.

If you have children, you need to review the guardianship documents. You might not want to change anything on these documents, but it is still a good idea to review them to ensure they are still fully accurate.

You should also check the powers of attorney designations. When you divorce, any powers of attorney that you granted to your now-ex are revoked. If you do still want your ex to hold these powers, you will need to redo the documents. If you want someone else to have these powers, now is the time to get the documents together.

Update your will and any trusts you have. There is a chance that your ex and his or her family members might be named on these. If you don’t want them to get their hands on your assets, you need to update these components of your estate plan. Make sure that you take care of life insurance if you have these in force.

While they aren’t part of your estate plan, you need to check the payable on death designations that you have on your financial accounts. This includes bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts and insurance policies. If you have children, you might opt to hand some of these over to the person who will care for your children when you are gone.

Source: The Balance, “5 Estate Planning Documents to Update When Getting a Divorce,” Patti Spencer, accessed Aug. 03, 2017