Planning for What Comes Next: Estate Planning Instruments and Divorce

Estate planning is often part of a divorce settlement, and negotiation of these terms can be as integral to the divorce settlement as allocation of parental responsibilities, support issues, or division of marital estate. For example, even a relatively simple Marital Settlement Agreement may generally contain waivers of an ex-spouse’s right to make claims to the other party’s estate upon death, including rights to property and to act as a trustee or executor of the estate. There are situations, however, where divorce does not sever all ties upon death and where estate planning provisions must be made for an ex-spouse or the child of divorcing spouses as part of a divorce settlement.