Important Estate Planning Considerations for Your Illinois Divorce

 Posted on December 04, 2020 in Divorce

If you are in the process of going through a divorce, you are already aware of the plethora of issues that you must negotiate with your spouse. You are likely sick of hearing about the pages-long list of issues, such as allocating your marital property and determining whether or not spousal support is necessary, which all need to be reconciled with your spouse before you can finalize your divorce. With so many other issues at the forefront of your concerns, many people end up forgetting about one very important aspect that should be taken care of during the divorce -- your estate plan. If you ever had a will or you and your spouse ever started to plan for the future, you will want to be sure to update your estate plan accordingly before your divorce is finalized. Here are a few things you should keep in mind about your estate plan when getting a divorce:

• Understand what documents you currently have in place. The first thing you should do is to understand what type of estate plan you have in place already. Every estate plan is different and tailored to each person’s specific needs, so you should familiarize yourself with your current estate plan if you are not familiar with it already. You may already have estate planning documents, such as:

• Living will

• Irrevocable and/or revocable trust

• Power of Attorney for healthcare and/or finances

• Payable-on-death accounts

• Life insurance policies

• Employer-sponsored retirement programs, such as a pension or 401(k)

• Individual retirement account (IRA)

This will allow you to understand what changes need to be made to your documents and which documents may need to be reviewed further.

• Consider consulting with an estate planning professionals. There are many different specialists that you may need to work with throughout your divorce. Many divorce attorneys are multifaceted professionals that can help you with most, if not all, areas of the divorce. However, it is never a bad idea to consult with an estate planning specialist before and after your divorce is finalized to ensure you are set for the future.

• Be sure your beneficiary designations are correct. The last thing you will want to be sure of is that all of the designations on your documents are correct. On some of your estate planning documents, such as your will, trusts, life insurance policies, and others, you named a person as your beneficiary who would gain ownership of the property of interest in the event that you passed away. In many cases, those who are married put their spouses as their beneficiaries, so you will want to be sure your beneficiary designations are changed after your divorce.

Contact a St. Charles Divorce Attorney Today

At the distinguished Law Office of Matthew M. Williams, P.C., our goal is to make your divorce process go as smoothly as it can possibly go. We understand what a difficult time it is to be going through a divorce and are ready to put our legal knowledge and success to work for you. To schedule a consultation with our skilled Kane County divorce lawyer, call our office today at 630-409-8184.

Sources:

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/estate-planning-during-a-divorce-four-36559/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinefletcher/2018/06/19/8-estate-planning-moves-if-you-are-getting-divorced/?sh=ddf778364190

https://www.isba.org/committees/women/newsletter/2017/02/estateplanningissuesfordivorcedwome