Estate planning experts in Miami encourage you to begin considering the matters of your estate early on in life. The first step in that process may be to create a will. Many of those that we here at The Law Offices of Frye and Vazquez, P.L. have worked with over the years, however, have had to find out the hard way that estate planning is a process, not a singular event. As changes occur in your life that affect your income, savings and property holdings, as well as your marriage and family, you will want to revisit your will to see if changes need to be made to reflect your current situation. Yet what if you fail to do so?
Say you create a will with your spouse, naming her as a beneficiary to your estate. You later divorce, yet fail to ever go in and amend your will. Will she still receive her designated portion of your estate upon your death? According to Section 732.507(2) of the Florida Probate Code, the answer to that question is no. If fact, it states that any provision of your will concerning your spouse that you made while married becomes void upon the dissolution of your marriage (regardless of whether your divorced or had your marriage annulled).
What if, in the aforementioned scenario, you remarry, but never update your will to include your new spouse as a beneficiary. Your marriage does not void your will, yet as your pretermitted spouse, your surviving spouse shall inherit whatever portion of your estate he or she would be entitled to if you had intestate. The same holds true for any children to have or adopt after creating your will.
You can discover more about how lifestyle changes may affect your will by continuing to search our site.
