Changing Your Will

CHANGING YOUR WILL DURING AND AFTER YOUR DIVORCE

DURING YOUR DIVORCE – If you are in the process of divorce, legally you are still married and inheritance laws will still apply to you whether there is a will or not. If your partner dies during the divorce and there is no will, you will inherit their half if there are no children. If you have children, you will receive £250K of the estate and all chattels. The rest will be divided in half. You will receive your half and your children will receive the rest when they reach 18 years of age.

If you make a new will during the divorce that excludes your ex-partner then you must be careful because potentially they can claim against your will for reasonable financial provision if you die before your divorce is finalised.

If you have a new partner but you are still legally married to your previous partner, then your new partner will inherit nothing unless they are specifically mentioned in your will. If you have a will written before your divorce has been finalised, this will still be valid until it is replaced with your new one. 

AFTER YOUR DIVORCE IS FINAL – Once you are divorced you will be treated as if you have died on the date your divorce was finalised. Unless your ex-partner has specifically stated in their will that the divorce will NOT affect you as a beneficiary, executor or trustee of their will, you cannot benefit from your ex-partner’s will, inherit any gifts your ex-partner has left you or be the executor or a trustee of their will. 

As your ex-partner will be treated ‘as have died’ after your divorce is finalised then it is important that during your divorce you update or change your will to include your ex-partner if you want to especially if you have underage children and you want to make provisions for your children. 

Once your divorce is final, you pass away and your will has not changed or been updated then the law will deem you have died ‘intestate’. This means you have died without a valid will. The law of intestacy will most probably apply. Which means your estate will be divided by the laws of intestacy and new partners and other people whom you may want to benefit may not.