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Most Common Trigger · Special Situations
After a divorce, update all of it.
A divorce is the single most common reason an estate plan falls out of date. We do a clean update of all four documents, including your beneficiary designations and any guardianship changes, so nothing is still pointing at a marriage that has ended.
First call is a conversation, not a commitment.
The Short Answer
Virginia law revokes the parts of your will that benefit a former spouse, but that is only one piece. It does not touch their family, your beneficiary forms, or who holds your power of attorney. A divorce calls for a full sweep of every document, not a single edit.
How It Works
What we actually update.
A clean post-divorce update is a checklist, not a single signature. Here is the ground we cover together.
1
The will
We rewrite your will so it reflects your life now: new executor if your former spouse was named, updated gifts, and a residuary plan that matches your current wishes. We do not rely on the partial revocation the statute provides.
2
The powers of attorney and medical directive
If your former spouse was your financial agent or healthcare agent, those roles need to change. We name people you trust now, so that nobody from a closed chapter holds authority over your money or your medical care.
3
The beneficiary designations
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and transfer-on-death accounts do not update on their own. We go through each one so a former spouse is not still listed to receive a major asset by default.
4
The guardianship designation
If your circumstances or your co-parent's situation have changed, the guardian named for your children may need to change too. We revisit it as part of the same update.
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What Virginia law does, and does not, do
Under Va. Code § 64.2-412, a divorce automatically revokes will provisions that benefit your former spouse, treating them as if they had died before you. It does not remove the former spouse's relatives from your will, and it does not update beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, or transfer-on-death accounts. Those gaps are exactly why a full review matters.
Statutes change. Confirm the current rule before relying on this. This page is general information, not legal advice for your situation.
The Checklist
Four documents, plus the forms.
A divorce touches every corner of an estate plan. These are the pieces we work through so none of them is left behind.
01
Will & Executor
A fresh will with the right executor and the right distribution, rather than relying on a partial statutory revocation.
02
Powers of Attorney
New financial agent and new healthcare agent, so a former spouse no longer holds authority over your affairs.
03
Beneficiary Forms
Every retirement account, insurance policy, and TOD account checked and updated, since these override the will.
04
Guardianship
The guardian named for your children revisited in light of your new circumstances and your co-parent's.
Worth Knowing
The gap the statute leaves open.
Many people assume the divorce decree handled their estate plan. It handled one corner of it. Here is the difference between assuming and updating.
+ What the law handles
- Will provisions that benefit the former spouse are revoked
- The former spouse is treated as having died before you
- This happens automatically once the divorce is final
− What you still have to do
- Remove the former spouse's relatives if you no longer want them included
- Update beneficiary forms, which the statute does not touch
- Replace a former spouse as power of attorney or medical agent
- Revisit the guardian named for your children
Alisa Chunephisal, Esq.
Family Law Attorney
From the Attorney
"The divorce decree ends the marriage. It does not clean up the paperwork that still names your ex."
We are a family law firm, so we see this from both ends. People finish a hard divorce, feel relief, and assume everything is settled. Then a retirement account still lists the former spouse, or an old will still names their family, and it surfaces at the worst time.
That is why a post-divorce review is one of the most valuable things we do for our clients. One sitting to update the will, the powers of attorney, the medical directive, the beneficiary forms, and the guardianship. Done together, so nothing slips through.
The Full Plan
Explore the rest of the estate plan.
01 Last Will & Testament →
02 Power of Attorney →
03 Advance Medical Directive →
04 Guardianship Designation →
05 Beneficiary Coordination →
06 Testamentary Trusts →
07 Post-Divorce Updates You are here
08 Blended-Family Planning →
09 Special-Needs Provisions →
10 Business Owner Planning →
11 Non-Traditional Families →
12 Plan Reviews →
Questions Families Ask
Plain answers about divorce and your plan.
Does my divorce change my will automatically?
Partly. Under Va. Code § 64.2-412, a divorce automatically revokes the provisions of your will that benefit your former spouse, as if the former spouse had died before you. That is helpful, but it is only one piece, and it leaves several gaps that you have to close yourself.
What does a divorce not change?
A divorce does not automatically remove your former spouse's family from your will, and it does not update your beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, or transfer-on-death accounts. It also does not update your power of attorney or medical directive if those still name your former spouse. All of these need a manual review.
Which documents should I update?
All four core documents and your beneficiary forms. That means your will, your financial power of attorney, your advance medical directive, and your guardianship designation, plus the beneficiary designations on every retirement account, life insurance policy, and transfer-on-death account. A clean post-divorce update goes through all of them together.
When should I do this?
As soon as the divorce is final, and in some cases sooner. While the divorce is pending you may still want to revisit who holds your power of attorney and who serves as your medical agent, since those often name a spouse. We handle the full update once the divorce is final and flag anything that should be addressed earlier.
When You Are Ready
Close the chapter on paper, too.
Tell us where your divorce stands and we will sweep through every document and every beneficiary form, updating each one so nothing still points at a marriage that has ended. Three Northern Virginia offices, one phone number.