Your ex-spouse (or soon-to-be ex-spouse) still may be in charge of your estate plan and assets even after you get divorced. This is why it is vitally important that you change your beneficiary designations on your bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies, as well as update other estate planning documents to prevent your ex-spouse from inheriting your assets or acting in a fiduciary capacity over your medical or financial matters. By this point, you are shaking, as most people do when they realize this possibility, because now you know that your ex-spouse still may have that much control over you even after a divorce is finalized.

Estate planning is a general term used to describe the creation of certain documentation to maintain and control your financial and healthcare well-being. This could be as simple as a beneficiary designation with a bank account, retirement account, or life insurance policy. Or this can be when someone uses legal documents such as wills, powers of attorney, trusts, and advanced directives for health care to help protect their assets and ensure that their family is cared for following the individual’s death or incapacity.

The documents mentioned above typically are the last thing on one’s mind following a divorce, but that does not change the importance of these documents and what effect they may have going forward. A divorce does not automatically nullify the beneficiaries you previously listed on your accounts or estate planning documents. Although modifying beneficiary designations or updating wills, trusts, powers of attorney, trusts, and advanced directives for health care may feel like a daunting task after the often-grueling process of finalizing a divorce, it is important to tackle this assignment fairly soon following the completion of your divorce. To not act could be devastating.

For example, should you not update your estate planning documents and you become incapacitated after your divorce, your ex-spouse still may have authority over your medical and financial matters. In case of such incapacity, you would rather have someone you trust in such a position of responsibility, not your ex-spouse, especially if you just went through a less-than-amicable divorce.

If you do not amend your advanced directive for health care (this document names another to make medical decisions for you when you are unable to do so for yourself), your ex-spouse still may have the right to make life and death decisions concerning you, as well as may make decisions concerning your future healthcare needs.

If you do not amend your power of attorney (this document names another to make personal and financial decisions for you), your ex-spouse still may make decisions regarding your assets and finances and may have continued access to your financial accounts.

Should you pass away before you update the beneficiary designations on your bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies, your ex-spouse still may stand to inherit your assets if they are listed as the beneficiary on your accounts.

Again, this could be the same person with whom you just completed a nasty separation. In most situations that is not the person you want to benefit from passing or to make decisions for you anymore.

In essence, after experiencing a divorce, you must reevaluate your estate plan. You need to update key components of this plan. This can be as simple as changing a beneficiary designation on your bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies. What is more, you may need to amend your last will and testament or your trust. Lastly, you may need to create a new power of attorney and/or advanced directive for health care, naming someone you trust to be in such a position of responsibility over you, your assets, and your healthcare needs.

If you just went through a divorce in the past year (or if you have not looked at your estate planning documents since you were divorced), I encourage you to schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our experienced estate planning attorneys at Brown, Barbour, & Thrailkill, P.C. to discuss what steps you may need to take concerning your estate plan post-divorce. Call today at (770) 461-2025 to schedule a free consultation regarding your estate planning needs.