Divorce is one of those life events that affects virtually every dimension of a person’s financial and legal life — and estate planning is no exception. Failing to update your estate plan after a divorce is one of the most common and consequential mistakes people make, often with results that are precisely the opposite of what they would have wanted.
If you’ve gone through a divorce, updating your estate plan isn’t optional. It’s urgent.
What Happens to Your Will After Divorce?
In Missouri, a divorce automatically revokes any bequest to a former spouse in a will executed during the marriage. This provides some protection, but it’s far from complete. The revocation applies only to the former spouse — not to their family members who may be named as secondary beneficiaries. And it doesn’t affect beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts, which are governed by federal or contract law, not by Missouri’s revocation statute.
“Failing to update your estate plan after divorce is one of the most common and consequential mistakes people make — often with results that are exactly the opposite of what they would have wanted.”
Beneficiary Designations: The Most Urgent Priority
Life insurance policies, IRAs, 401(k)s, payable-on-death bank accounts, and transfer-on-death investment accounts all pass directly to the named beneficiary, entirely outside of your will. A divorce may not not automatically change these designations.
There are well-documented cases in which a former spouse received an entire life insurance policy or retirement account because the policyholder simply forgot to update the beneficiary designation after the divorce. Courts have generally upheld these distributions, even when it was clear the decedent would not have wanted the former spouse to receive the assets. Updating beneficiary designations should happen as soon as the divorce is finalized — and ideally as soon as legally permitted during the proceedings.
Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives
If your former spouse is named as your agent under a durable power of attorney or healthcare directive, those designations should be revoked and replaced immediately. While Missouri law may limit a former spouse’s authority in some circumstances, relying on default legal rules when a clear document exists is not a sound strategy.
Planning for Children from a Prior Marriage
Divorce often involves children, and their interests must be carefully addressed in an updated estate plan. If you have minor children, your will should designate a guardian. Trusts are frequently used in post-divorce estate planning to ensure that assets left for minor children are managed appropriately and reach the children themselves rather than being controlled by a former spouse in their capacity as parent or guardian.
Remarriage Adds Another Layer
If you’ve remarried or are considering it, estate planning after divorce becomes more complex still. Blending families through remarriage involves questions about how to provide for a new spouse while protecting the inheritance rights of children from a prior marriage — questions that require careful, thoughtful planning to resolve in a way that’s fair to everyone involved.
Don’t Wait
A divorce is a legal and emotional process that leaves most people exhausted. Updating estate planning documents may feel like one more thing on a very long list. But the consequences of delay — assets going to an ex-spouse, a former partner retaining authority over your medical care, children left without a clear plan — are serious enough that this is one item that shouldn’t wait.
About John Gunn: John brings over two decades of specialized legal experience to AEGIS Law, with particular depth in probate and trust litigation, estate planning, and fiduciary matters. As a past president of The Missouri Bar, he has demonstrated leadership at the highest levels of the legal profession while maintaining a practice focused on helping individuals and families navigate complex personal and financial transitions.
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