Divorce inevitably affects one’s estate. If you were married in community of property, your joint estate is divided up. If you were married with accrual, some money or property would have changed hands, or one of you would have waived a claim. Even if you were married out of community, some division exercise would have taken place in the common home to sort out what is yours and what was your spouse’s.
Yet the last thing on your mind when going through a divorce may be your will. It may have been signed years earlier – in happier times – and the chances are that your spouse would have been your primary heir.
The Wills Act acknowledges that it can take some time to get one’s affairs in order after a divorce. Section 2B provides that, if (1) you made a will before your divorce (or annulment) and (2) you die within three months of your divorce (or annulment), then your will will be implemented as if your former spouse died before you. An exception is made where it is clear from the will that the bequest is made regardless of divorce.
Three months after a divorce, however, any outdated will that benefits your former spouse becomes of full force once again. If you die three months and one day after your divorce, and your old will made your former spouse your heir, then they will still inherit.
It is thus important to think about the need to update one’s will whenever there is a major change in status such as a divorce. Births, deaths, marriages and divorces, and major changes in one’s estate, should all trigger a review of your will to ensure that it still reflects your wishes.
Contact us to draw or revise your last will and testament and/or living will: camilla@roseattorneys.co.za / 074 697 2048.
