Now that I am divorced do I need to update my will to exclude my then wife?
Full Question:
I was recently divorced in MA. The divorce decree is final. It is my understanding that items which includes cash, bank accounts, and the house,which are all in my name, but are left to my wife according to the will, are not legally hers, pursuant to MA law and the parts of the will which identify her are voided.
11/19/2007 |
Category: Divorce |
State: Massachusetts |
#12527
Answer:
The following is a Massachusetts statute:
G.L.c. 191, § 9. Effect of marriage, divorce
or annulment.
Section 9. The marriage of a person shall act as a revocation of a
will made by him previous to such marriage, unless it appears from
the will that it was made in contemplation thereof. If the will is made
in the exercise of a power of appointment and the real and personal
property subject to the appointment would not, without the appointment,
pass to the persons who would have been entitled to it if it had
been the estate and property of the testator making the appointment
and he had died intestate, so much of the will as makes the appointment
shall not be revoked by the marriage.
If, after executing a will, the testator shall be divorced or his
marriage shall be annulled, the divorce or annulment shall revoke any
disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former
spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment
on the former spouse, and any nomination of the former
spouse, as executor, trustee, conservator or guardian, unless the will
shall expressly provide otherwise. Property prevented from passing
to a former spouse because of revocation by divorce shall pass as if a
former spouse had failed to survive the decedent, and other provisions
conferring a power or office on the former spouse shall be interpreted
as if the spouse had failed to survive the decedent. If provisions shall
be revoked solely by this section, they shall be revived by the
testator's remarriage to the former spouse. A decree of separation
which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a
divorce for the purpose of this section.
This section shall not apply to a will made under the provisions of
chapter one hundred and ninety-one B unless the will otherwise
provides.