January 14, 2020

“Til Death Do Us (Not) Part?”

USAWillGuru.com recently announced that 13% of the 5,000 divorced people in Connecticut it surveyed have included their former spouses in their post-divorce wills. 

I don’t know the specifics of how this survey was conducted.  But the result is consistent with my experience representing divorcing clients for 30 plus years – your former spouse may be the best person to protect or receive some of your assets upon your death, serve as the executor of your estate or otherwise have some legal authority to carry our your wishes such as disposition of your remains. 

And by the way, people are often surprised to learn the effect divorce has on their existing will and estate plan.  Under Connecticut law, a divorce automatically revokes a pre 1997 will and invalidates major parts of a will executed after January 1, 1997.  All divorcing people then should review and update their will and other estate planning related documents to make sure that their wishes are provided for and carried out.   Failure to do so can result in unwanted and permanent consequences as well as a great deal of family conflict.

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