The past year has seen a huge spike in relationship separations and divorce applications across the UK, with the pandemic forcing some couples to spend more time together, and others being forced to spend time apart; along with the stresses of everyday life, home-schooling children, financial difficulties and failing businesses. Younger couples may find themselves facing their first major life challenge together which is unexpected, and difficult.
One extremely important consideration when you are going through a separation or divorce is taking the time to update your Will and/or Lasting Powers of Attorney.
If you are married, prior to a divorce being finalised, your spouse may still inherit your entire estate or a large percentage of it (depending whether or not you have children; and whether or not you have a Will in place).
If you are divorced, and your ex-spouse has not formed a civil partnership or remarried, and you have failed to reach a formal financial settlement or achieved a “clean break” divorce, an ex-spouse could still claim against your estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Once you are divorced, any gift to your former spouse will fail and will not take effect. In other words, the Will reads as if that person has died and the substitutional provisions will take effect. This may not achieve the desired effect either, especially if you have drafted Wills leaving your estate to one another and then equally divided between your respective families.
If you are not married, then your Will remains legally valid unless you change it. If you own joint assets, however, these may still pass to your former partner; depending on how they are owned. It is crucial that you take advice and check this, in case the worst were to happen.
Regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney, divorce ends your former spouse’s appointment as your attorney. Prior to finalising a divorce, and if you are on good terms, then your spouse can disclaim their appointment as your attorney. If you are not on good terms or you want to make absolutely sure that your
spouse cannot act under your Lasting Power of Attorney then you should revoke the document and terminate their appointment.
You cannot change the law to bar someone from bringing a claim, however you can protect yourself as far as possible by getting the correct advice and having a properly drawn Will.
In summary, at a highly emotional time, we are always here to help and we understand the sensitivity and difficulty of discussing matters when you are going through a separation. Having a simple Will to cover you for the time being, pending finalising matters, is better than having no Will at all or one that achieves an undesirable end result.
The blog postings on this site are accurate at the time that they are written and do not constitute legal advice. All comments are made in good faith, and neither Keyte Legal Limited nor the author will accept liability for them. Please contact us for more information or advice