Planning Ahead After Divorce

If you have recently been through a divorce, it is likely a hefty portion of your time has been filled with negotiations and meetings with attorneys. At this point, now that dust has finally settled, the last thing you want to do is to go over your estate plan and meet with another attorney. But, with your freshly minted single status, you owe it to yourself and your children to make updates to better reflect your current situation. First, the good news is that in most states, divorce extinguishes your ex-spouse’s rights under a will or trust. In the case of property inherited by children though, an ex-spouse may exercise considerable discretion over the assets if they are appointed as a custodian. One method to avoid this result is to set up trusts for children so you, not your ex-spouse, may determine under what circumstances your children may receive your property.

See Planning Ahead After Divorce, Adler Pollock & Sheehan, P.C., November 2017.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.