The common phrase “No job is finished until the paperwork is done” rings true especially when a marriage is dissolved and the parties involved fail to address this change in status in their respective wills.

Unfortunately it happens quite often that the strain and turmoil of a divorce tends to focus a person’s attention to such a great extent on D-day (date of divorce), that in the process they are remiss and fail to change their existing will which might still bequeath the assets to the very same former spouse.

If any person dies within three months after his marriage was dissolved and that person executed a will before that date, his will shall be implemented in the same manner as it would have been implemented if his previous spouse had died before the divorce (Unless it appears from the will that the testator intended to benefit his previous spouse.)

In short this means that a divorcee is given a three month grace period to remove a former spouse from an existing will. Should you fail to do so within this three month period, your former spouse will be entitled to inherit from your existing will as if the divorce didn’t take place.

It is thus of extreme importance to finalize the legalities of the marriage and ensure that the wills of the parties are changed.