You’re getting a divorce. Divorce is often a long, emotional, stressful process. Many times, people are so focused on the divorce process that they forget about the parts of their life that will not be covered in the divorce proceedings. Matters such as health care directives and estate planning will likely not be fully addressed in your final judgment. Before and during your divorce, you should consult with your estate planning attorney about updating your health care directives (who will make the decisions for your health if you are unable to do so) and your will or estate documents (who gets what if you should die).
If you are like most people, the person named in both of these documents is your current spouse. If you should become unable to make medical decisions during your divorce, do you really want your soon to be ex-spouse making decisions about your medical care? If you were to die during the proceedings, do you want to leave everything to your soon to be ex-spouse? Some documents can’t be changed until after you are divorced. For example, if you have a retirement account which names your spouse as a beneficiary, many companies will not allow you to change this designation without the permission of your spouse or until you are officially divorced. Be sure to change the beneficiary on your retirement accounts, if you can, as soon as your divorce is final. Making sure your paperwork is in order before, during, and after your divorce is critical to your future. Do not forget these important steps.