Wolf & Shore, LLC understands that going through a divorce is stressful, and dealing with more paperwork once it’s over may be the last thing you want to do. However, to protect yourself, your family, and your assets, you should look to update your estate plan as soon as possible after your divorce is finalized.
After a divorce, your estate plan should be updated accordingly, or your ex-spouse could potentially inherit your assets if you had already appointed him or her as an Executor or listed him or her as a beneficiary. Do you really want someone you just ended a marriage with making decisions about your assets?
Estate planning is more than just updating your will. You many need to set up a trust if you have a child(ren) under 18 that could inherit your assets. You may need to re-assign beneficiaries for retirement plans, pensions and/or life insurance policies. Also, you may want to re-evaluate who can make medical decisions for you if you are unable to do so for yourself.
If you didn’t create an estate plan during your marriage, now is as good of a time as any. It’s likely that you have more (or different) assets that are solely in your name after a divorce. If you plan appropriately, you will save your loved ones the headache (and a lot of fees!) of putting your estate through probate. Hiring an experienced estate planning attorney after your divorce is extremely beneficial, as they will be able to help you update and create the necessary estate planning documents. Let us help you take the headache out of estate planning. You can contact our office for a confidential consultation at 203.745.3151 or info@wolfandshorelaw.com.
