{"id":4763,"date":"2021-05-19T13:28:47","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T17:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=4763"},"modified":"2021-05-19T13:28:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T17:28:47","slug":"the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/kobis\/the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning.html","title":{"rendered":"The Impact of a Divorce on Estate Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Births, deaths, marriages, and divorces reshape the definition of family for individuals on a constant basis. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that family law and estate planning often go hand in hand. Estate planners and divorce attorneys alike are often presented with \u201cwhat if\u201d questions that span both areas of law. Here, a few common questions are explored which can help guide people faced with these life transitions as they make decisions to protect their spouses, children, and assets.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I change my Will while I\u2019m getting divorced? Should I?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although the last thing that many people want to do once the divorce action has begun is engage another attorney, it is actually a good idea to revisit your estate plan at this time. Public policy prohibits disinheriting your spouse, so a spouse who is not named in the other\u2019s Will could file a claim for the \u201cspousal elective share\u201d to receive a portion of the deceased spouse\u2019s estate. The filing of a divorce complaint does not prevent a soon-to-be former spouse from inheriting an equitable share of marital assets. The New Jersey Supreme Court has analyzed what should happen in this situation and applied a remedy which does not allow the surviving spouse a windfall, but at the same time recognizes that at the time of the death, the parties were in fact still married.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/kobis\/the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning.html\"  title=\"Continue Reading The Impact of a Divorce on Estate Planning\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Births, deaths, marriages, and divorces reshape the definition of family for individuals on a constant basis. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that family law and estate planning often go hand in hand. Estate planners and divorce attorneys alike are often presented with \u201cwhat if\u201d questions that span both areas of law. Here, a few common questions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[246,320,86,343],"tags":[],"coauthors":[202,322],"class_list":["post-4763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorce-family-law-insights","category-candido","category-kobis","category-wills-trusts-estates-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Impact of a Divorce on Estate Planning &#8212; May 19, 2021 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. Firm News &amp; Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Births, deaths, marriages, and divorces reshape the definition of family for individuals on a constant basis. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that family law and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/kobis\/the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Impact of a Divorce on Estate Planning &#8212; May 19, 2021 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. Firm News &amp; Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Births, deaths, marriages, and divorces reshape the definition of family for individuals on a constant basis. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that family law and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/kobis\/the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. Firm News &amp; Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-19T17:28:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole A. Kobis, Elizabeth Candido Petite\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole A. Kobis, Elizabeth Candido Petite\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Impact of a Divorce on Estate Planning &#8212; May 19, 2021 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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It\u2019s no wonder, then, that family law and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/kobis\/the-impact-of-a-divorce-on-estate-planning.html","og_site_name":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. Firm News &amp; Events","article_published_time":"2021-05-19T17:28:47+00:00","author":"Nicole A. Kobis, Elizabeth Candido Petite","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole A. 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