I am divorced but had a will written with my ex-husband. The will has not been updated since the divorce. My ex was recently killed in an auto accident. Would this will from our marriage still be in effect?
In general, provisions made for a spouse in your Will are revoked when you divorce that spouse. That being said, the Will could provide otherwise and so without seeing the actual Will, it is not possible to give a definite answer. I advise my clients to always do a new Will after their divorce and to also do a new durable power of attoreny and make sure to check the beneficiaries of their life insurance and retirement accounts.
In many States, such as mine, a divorce has the effect of revoking a Will. As the prior answer indicated, the answer to your question will be State specific, but if your ex-husband did not execute a new Will after the divorce, he may be deemed to have died intestate (without a Will).
My colleagues are correct, upon your divorce the will became ineffective with regard to any distributions to you as a spouse. However, if he had prepared a new will after the divorce and included you as a beneficiary it would be valid.
I also confirm all that has been said above. I would recommend that you find the case number for the probate or admisration (search for the Washington Courts web site). All going well, you may retrieve a copy of the will that was probated. It is also likely that any provisions that were in his will when it was drafted are mirrored in yours, so you may first want to start with your own will that was drafted while you were married to see just what it said.
