Finalising a divorce is a vital time to bring your personal affairs up to date – particularly your will, power of attorney and potentially your title deeds.

Many people assume that divorce will automatically invalidate a will, power of attorney or Survivorship Destination, but that is only part of the story.

Although the law has tried to accommodate the likelihood that people will not wish their ex-spouse or civil partner to benefit from their estate, the legal treatment of existing arrangements can potentially give rise to a further set of complications, which can easily be avoided by carrying out a review with a qualified advisor.

Changes to Scots Law

Under Scots Law prior to November 2016, a divorce had no impact on a will, but recognition of the change in families and relationships has resulted in recent changes to modernise Scots Law and bring it more in line with other parts of the UK. Now, like the rest of the UK, an ex-spouse or civil partner is treated as though they have died before the granter of the will. In other words, the will is not automatically revoked but instead it is read as it stands, but ‘missing out’ the former spouse or civil partner.

Why do you need to review your will?

Although a step in the right direction, this can leave your will in a bit of a mess, for example:

• an appointment of your former spouse or civil partner as executor, trustee or guardian of children will fail, unless the will specifically states otherwise;
• if the will does not provide for an alternative executor, an appropriate person (usually another beneficiary) will have to apply to the Court so that the estate can be administered;
• if you have made legacies solely to your ex-spouse or civil partner, these will fail and they will fall into the residue of estate; where there is no substitute beneficiary, the estate may be intestate and will have to be claimed by eligible family members.

As a result, you will need to undertake a review of your personal affairs on divorce or you run the risk of a complex estate, which is not administered as you would have wished.

Dara Richards is a Private Client Associate, Notary Public and Solicitor for the Elderly at Ledingham Chalmer