Navigating life after a divorce involves more than just the legal proceedings themselves. Once your divorce is finalized in Illinois or Missouri, there is a critical checklist of financial and healthcare documents that must be updated to protect your interests and ensure your wishes are honored going forward.
Why Updating Your Documents After Divorce Is Urgent
Many people assume that a divorce decree automatically changes their beneficiary designations, healthcare directives, and estate planning documents. It does not. In most cases, beneficiary designations on financial accounts, insurance policies, and retirement plans are governed by the designation form itself, not by your will or divorce decree. If your ex-spouse is still listed as your beneficiary and you pass away, they may legally receive those assets regardless of your divorce.
This is not a hypothetical risk. Courts across the country have upheld beneficiary designations in favor of ex-spouses when the account holder failed to update the forms after divorce.
Beneficiary Designations You Must Review
After your divorce is finalized, review and update beneficiary designations on all of the following:
Retirement Accounts
Your 401(k), 403(b), IRA, and any pension plans each have separate beneficiary designation forms. Under federal law (ERISA), a beneficiary designation on a qualified retirement plan like a 401(k) generally supersedes a will or divorce decree. If your ex-spouse is still named and you pass away, they will likely receive the funds. Update these designations immediately after your divorce.
Note that IRAs are governed by state law rather than ERISA. In Illinois, the revocation-on-divorce statute under 755 ILCS 5/4-7 may revoke a former spouse’s beneficiary designation on some non-ERISA accounts, but relying on this statute alone is risky. Always update the forms directly.
Life Insurance Policies
Review every life insurance policy you own, including employer-provided group life insurance. Check whether your Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) requires you to maintain a policy naming your ex-spouse as beneficiary. If there is no such requirement, update the beneficiary to reflect your current wishes.
Bank and Brokerage Accounts
Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) designations on bank accounts and investment accounts pass outside of probate. If your ex-spouse is listed, they will receive the account balance upon your death regardless of what your will says.
Health Savings Accounts and Annuities
HSAs and annuity contracts also have beneficiary designations that should be reviewed and updated post-divorce.
Healthcare Directives and Powers of Attorney
Healthcare documents are equally important to update after a divorce. Key documents to review include:
Healthcare Power of Attorney
If your ex-spouse is currently named as your healthcare agent (the person authorized to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated), this should be changed immediately. In Illinois, a healthcare power of attorney is governed by the Illinois Health Care Surrogate Act (755 ILCS 40). In Missouri, healthcare directives are governed by RSMo 404.800 et seq. Both states allow you to revoke and replace these documents at any time.
Living Will / Advance Directive
Your living will or advance directive may reference your ex-spouse as someone to consult regarding end-of-life care decisions. Update this document to name a trusted family member, friend, or other individual.
HIPAA Authorization
If you previously signed a HIPAA authorization allowing your ex-spouse to access your medical records, revoke it and execute a new authorization naming the appropriate person.
Estate Planning Documents to Update
Beyond beneficiary designations and healthcare directives, your broader estate plan needs attention:
- Will: Illinois law (755 ILCS 5/4-7) automatically revokes provisions benefiting a former spouse upon divorce. Missouri has a similar statute under RSMo 474.420. However, you should still execute a new will that reflects your current wishes rather than relying solely on these automatic revocation provisions.
- Revocable living trust: If you have a trust, review and amend it to remove your ex-spouse as trustee or beneficiary, unless your MSA requires otherwise.
- Financial power of attorney: If your ex-spouse is your agent for financial decisions, revoke that power of attorney and designate a new agent.
A Post-Divorce Document Update Checklist
Use this checklist to make sure nothing falls through the cracks:
- Update beneficiary designations on all retirement accounts (401(k), IRA, pension)
- Update beneficiary designations on all life insurance policies
- Update POD/TOD designations on bank and brokerage accounts
- Execute a new healthcare power of attorney
- Update your living will or advance directive
- Revoke any HIPAA authorizations granted to your ex-spouse
- Execute a new will
- Amend or restate your revocable living trust
- Execute a new financial power of attorney
- Review your MSA for any restrictions on changing beneficiary designations
How Hunsinger Law Group Can Help
At Hunsinger Law Group, we help clients in Illinois and Missouri navigate the critical post-divorce transition. As a firm that handles both family law and estate planning, we can review your divorce decree and MSA alongside your existing estate plan, identify documents that need to be updated, and prepare new documents that protect your wishes and comply with your legal obligations.
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Keep your family’s future as positive as possible. Have the licensed social worker attorney assist you during this difficult time. Call (833) 256-6644 or use our form to schedule a consultation.
HUNSINGER LAW GROUP
Empowering families to create a better tomorrow
See all of our divorce and family law posts
Keep your family's future as positive as possible. Have the licensed social worker attorney assist you during this difficult time. Call (833) 256-6644 or use our form to
schedule a consultation.
HUNSINGER LAW GROUPEmpowering families to create a better tomorrow