How to update your will after divorce - My Local Will Writer

Divorce changes your will, but not in the way most people expect. In England and Wales, a final divorce order doesn’t cancel your will. It removes your ex-spouse as a beneficiary and executor, but leaves the rest of the document in place, often with gaps that need filling. If you’re thinking about changing your will after divorce – or you divorced recently and haven’t updated it yet – here’s what your current will actually says, what it doesn’t cover, and how to put it right.

What divorce actually does to your will

In England and Wales, once the final divorce order (previously called a decree absolute) is granted, any gifts left to your ex-spouse in your will lapse automatically. Under the Wills Act 1837, your ex is treated as though they had died on the date the divorce was finalised. The same applies if you had appointed them as executor: that appointment also lapses.

Everything else in the will stays exactly as it was. The document does not become void. This means if your ex was your sole beneficiary and you named no backup, that portion of your estate now falls into the residue of the estate. If residue isn’t dealt with either, it passes under intestacy rules to whoever the law says should inherit.

One important point to understand: this only applies from the final divorce order, not from separation or any earlier stage in proceedings. If a couple is separated but the divorce hasn’t yet been finalised, they still have legally valid wills in which the spouse remains a full beneficiary and executor. If you die while separated but not yet divorced, your spouse inherits exactly as the will directs.

Note: This article covers England and Wales only. Different rules apply in Scotland.

The problem with just leaving it

A will with gaps is not a safe will. If your ex was your sole or primary beneficiary and no substitute was named, your estate may now pass under the intestacy rules – to children, parents, or siblings, depending on your family situation. That may or may not be what you want, but it’s no longer something you control.

If your ex was also your executor, you may now have no valid executor named at all. That can create administrative difficulty and delay when your estate is eventually dealt with. It doesn’t prevent probate, but it does complicate it.

There are a couple of things divorce does not automatically remove. If you named your ex-spouse as a guardian for your children, that appointment remains in the will. And if you’ve since remarried or started a new relationship, your new partner has no rights under the old will, and no rights under intestacy either, unless you are legally married.

What a post-divorce will should cover

A will written after divorce should reflect your life as it actually is, not as it was when the old one was drafted. That means going through each part of it carefully.

Start with who you want to inherit your estate. That might be your children, other family members, a new partner, or a combination. If you’re in a new relationship but not married, your partner has no automatic rights – they need to be named clearly in the will.

Think about your executor. This should be someone you trust and who is willing to act. It shouldn’t be your ex.

If you have children, review the guardian named in your old will and confirm whether it still reflects your wishes. Remember that if the other parent is alive, they retain full parental responsibility regardless of what a will says. A guardian appointment is a backup for the situation where both parents have died.

Consider any new assets acquired since the original will was written – property, savings, pensions, or business interests – and make sure they are properly covered. For complex estates involving business assets or property abroad, it’s worth taking specific legal advice.

If you have children under 18, assets cannot pass directly to them. A trust clause means the money is held and managed on their behalf until they reach the age you specify.

The goal is a will that reflects your life now, with clear instructions that don’t rely on documents written for a different chapter.

What about during the divorce process?

This is worth addressing directly, because many people going through divorce are in the gap between separation and the final order, and that period carries real legal risk.

Until the final divorce order is granted, your existing will remains fully in force. Your spouse is still named as beneficiary and executor in that will. If you die during this period, they inherit as the will directs.

You do not need to wait for the divorce to be complete before making a new will. A new will can be made at any point during the divorce process, and doing so while proceedings are underway is a sensible step rather than something to defer. If you’re mid-process and want to act now, My Local Will Writer can have a new will drafted and ready to sign in under an hour.

Do you need a completely new will or just an update?

It’s possible to make limited amendments to a will using a formal document called a codicil. But for a post-divorce situation – where beneficiaries, executors, and potentially guardians all need to change – a fresh will is almost always the cleaner approach. A new will revokes all previous wills automatically, which removes the risk of conflict between documents.

My Local Will Writer drafts new wills rather than codicils. After a major life change like divorce, that’s the right call.

Getting your will updated

Divorce can leave you in a strange legal halfway house – the old will still exists, but no longer does the job you wrote it to do. Updating it closes that gap and makes sure the right people are protected. It’s one of those jobs that feels heavy until it’s done, and then it’s just a relief. Start your will online with My Local Will Writer – most people have a new draft ready in around 15 to 20 minutes.

It’s also worth checking whether your Lasting Power of Attorney needs updating at the same time – particularly if your ex-spouse was named as an attorney.

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