Inheritance and divorce:
what happens
to your Will

What the final order does to your Will

Any gift to a former spouse, and any appointment of a former spouse as executor or trustee, is generally treated as if the former spouse had died on the date of the final order, previously known as decree absolute. Guardian appointments and arrangements for children should be reviewed separately.

This sounds reassuring. But it is only a partial fix, and it creates as many problems as it solves.

If your Will left your entire estate to your spouse and then - if they did not survive you - to your children, the lapse means your estate now falls through to the children as if your ex had already died. That may or may not be what you intended. If your Will left specific gifts to other people as well, those gifts still stand. If you named your ex as sole executor and no substitute, your estate may need to apply to the court to appoint an administrator instead.

The final order tidies one part of the picture. It does not rewrite your Will into something appropriate for your new circumstances. Only you can do that - and only with a new Will.

What divorce does NOT change

This is the part that surprises most people. Despite the significant life change divorce represents, it leaves several important things entirely untouched.

• It does not revoke the Will entirely. The rest of your Will - other beneficiaries, other gifts, residual clauses - remains in force. You do not die intestate simply because your ex has been removed from the picture. What you are left with may be coherent or may be a mess; that depends on how your Will was structured.
• It does not apply during separation. Until the final order is granted, you are still legally married. Your existing Will, including any provisions for your spouse, operates in full. This is the most significant gap of all - see below.
• Jointly owned property. Separation or divorce proceedings do not, by themselves, necessarily change how jointly owned property passes on death. If a property is still held as joint tenants when one owner dies, the survivor may inherit the deceased's share automatically outside the Will. Severing the joint tenancy should be considered where appropriate.
• It does not affect pension nominations. Your pension fund sits outside your estate entirely. It is distributed at the trustees' discretion, guided by an Expression of Wishes form you have completed. If your ex-spouse is named on that form, decree absolute does not remove them. You must contact your pension provider separately and update the nomination.
• It does not affect life insurance beneficiary nominations. Policies held outside a trust similarly pass according to the beneficiary designation, not your Will. Again, you must update these directly with the insurer.

The dangerous separation period

Between the point of separation and the grant of the final order - which can take many months - you remain legally married. If you die during this period, your existing Will operates in full, including any gifts and appointments to your spouse.

This is not a theoretical risk. Proceedings can take a year or longer. People die during divorce. The consequences of an unchanged Will during that period can be precisely the opposite of what the deceased would have wanted - and they are very difficult for a family to challenge after the fact.

If you are separated and contemplating divorce, making a new Will immediately is not premature. It is prudent. You can always revise it further once the divorce is finalised.

After the final order: what needs reviewing

Once the divorce is final, a full review of your estate planning is warranted - not just your Will. The checklist should include:

• Will. Rewrite it to reflect your current wishes, beneficiaries, and circumstances. Do not rely on the partial lapse of ex-spouse provisions; build from a clean document.
• Beneficiaries. Who inherits? Are the proportions right? Are there new people - a new partner, step-children - who should be included?
• Executor. Your ex may have been removed automatically, but you still need an executor you trust. Name one explicitly.
• Guardians for minor children. If you have children under 18, who would care for them if you died? Your ex-spouse would ordinarily retain parental responsibility, but you may wish to appoint an additional guardian.
• Property ownership. If jointly owned property has not had its tenancy severed, do this as a matter of priority. A solicitor can prepare a Notice of Severance quickly.
• Pension nominations. Contact every pension provider - workplace, personal, and any defined benefit schemes - and update your Expressions of Wishes.
• Life insurance. Update beneficiary nominations on all policies not held in trust.
• LPAs. Your LPAs should also be reviewed. Divorce or dissolution may affect a spouse or civil partner's appointment as attorney, depending on the wording and circumstances, but you should not rely on this as a plan. If you no longer want your former spouse involved, revoke and replace the LPA properly.

Remarriage: the rule that catches people by surprise

If you remarry after a divorce, your existing Will is automatically and entirely revoked - by operation of law, on the date of the marriage. This is regardless of whether the Will was made before or after the divorce. Unless you make a new Will, you will die intestate.

The intestacy rules in England and Wales - which determine who inherits when there is no valid Will - give a surviving spouse a significant share of the estate, often ahead of children from a previous relationship. For someone who remarried and intended to provide for children from an earlier marriage alongside a new spouse, the result under intestacy may be very different from their intentions.

The correct approach is to make a new Will either shortly before remarriage (expressed to be made in contemplation of the forthcoming marriage and naming the intended spouse) or immediately after. Either option prevents intestacy from taking hold. Neither option is something to address months later when life has settled down - by then, the gap has already existed.

Divorce and remarriage together represent two of the most significant triggers for estate planning review. Neither one fixes your planning automatically. Both create urgent need for deliberate, considered action.