What Happens to My Will Designations After a Divorce?

Once a Pennsylvania family court makes a final ruling on your child custody, child support, spousal support, and property division, these arrangements may go into effect almost instantaneously. You may assume that this official divorce record automatically triggers updates to your related financial and legal documents, namely your estate planning documents, but this is not necessarily the case. Unfortunately, you may need to jump from a family law attorney to an estate planning attorney for further guidance. If you are under these specific circumstances, please continue reading to learn what happens to your will designations once your divorce is finalized and how an experienced Butler County will preparation attorney at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC can help you reach an outcome you are most comfortable with.

What happens to my will designations after a divorce in Pennsylvania?

You likely had your now-former spouse as the primary beneficiary for most of your estate planning documents, including your Last Will and Testament. Well, under Pennsylvania’s laws, once your divorce is officially finalized, your former spouse may be treated as though they predeceased you; namely, this is exclusively for will purposes. This means that any gifts, inheritance rights, or fiduciary roles (i.e., executor and trustee roles) you initially appointed to them may be revoked automatically.

However, you should not rely solely on this automatic revocation, and your attorney will most likely advise you to update your will post-divorce regardless. This is because Pennsylvania law may not go as far as to reorganize your will’s instructions to reflect your new priorities. For example, it may not change your guardianship designations for your minor children. Secondly, your former spouse’s inheritance may be distributed to unintended parties according to Pennsylvania’s intestate succession laws (i.e., children, parents, siblings, and then other close relatives). Lastly, you must not forget that your will does not cover the beneficiary designations you made in your life insurance policy, retirement accounts, and certain non-probate bank accounts.

What happens if I die before my divorce goes through in Pennsylvania?

Importantly, Pennsylvania law draws a clear distinction between finalized divorces and pending divorce cases. So, say you sadly pass away before the Pennsylvania family court issues a final order for your litigated divorce case. Further, you may have been so preoccupied with the ongoing divorce proceedings that you had not yet attended to modifying your estate plan. Well, in this case, Pennsylvania law may still view you as legally married. Meaning your soon-to-be former spouse may still retain significant rights to your estate.

Of note, the state recognizes something known as elective share rights. This statute states that a surviving spouse can claim one-third of a deceased spouse’s augmented estate, regardless of external factors such as a deceased spouse attempting to disinherit or divorce a surviving spouse during their lifetime. And so, your spouse may exercise their legal right to bring a claim before the Pennsylvania probate court within six months of the date of your death or the date of your estate’s probate.

To conclude, please prioritize scheduling an initial consultation with one of the skilled Butler County estate planning attorneys from Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC. We would be honored to represent you in your legal case.