Updating Your Will and Power of Attorney After Divorce in Mississippi

Mississippi Law Partially Protects You — But Only on the Will

Under Mississippi Code § 91-29-25, when you divorce, the law treats your ex-spouse as having predeceased you for purposes of your will and revocable trusts. Any bequest to your ex-spouse is automatically revoked. If your ex-spouse was named as executor, that appointment is also revoked.

This automatic protection applies to decedents who die on or after July 1, 2020.

But there's a gap. The statute addresses wills and revocable trusts. It does not automatically revoke your durable financial power of attorney or your advance healthcare directive.

Powers of Attorney Survive Divorce

If you signed a durable financial power of attorney naming your ex-spouse as your agent — the person authorized to manage your finances, sign documents, or access your bank accounts if you become incapacitated — that authority survives the divorce. Your ex-spouse can still exercise those powers unless you explicitly revoke the document.

The same applies to healthcare directives (also called advance directives or living wills). If your ex-spouse is named as your healthcare proxy — the person who makes medical decisions if you can't — that appointment remains valid after the divorce.

Mississippi law does not automatically revoke either of these documents upon divorce. You must do it yourself.

What to Do

Draft a new will. Even though the automatic revocation protects you, relying on a statutory inference is fragile. A new will under Mississippi Code § 91-5-1 should explicitly revoke all prior wills, name your updated beneficiaries, and appoint a new executor and guardian (if you have minor children). The new will must be signed in the presence of two attesting witnesses if you use the witnessed-will format. Mississippi also recognizes holographic (handwritten) wills when they meet the requirements of § 91-5-1.

Revoke the old power of attorney. Execute a written revocation and deliver a copy to your ex-spouse and to any institution that has the old POA on file (banks, brokerage firms, healthcare providers). Then execute a new durable financial power of attorney naming the person you actually want managing your finances if you're incapacitated.

Update your healthcare directive. Execute a new advance healthcare directive naming a new healthcare proxy. Deliver copies to your primary care physician, your local hospital, and any family members who should know about it. Destroy old copies to prevent confusion.

Update trust documents. If you have a revocable living trust, the automatic revocation may partially protect you, but amend the trust to remove your ex-spouse as trustee, successor trustee, or beneficiary. Irrevocable trusts require court action to modify — consult an estate planning attorney.

Don't Forget Non-Probate Transfers

Estate planning isn't just about the will. Transfer-on-death (TOD) designations on bank and brokerage accounts, payable-on-death (POD) designations on savings accounts, and beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance all pass assets outside the will.

The Mississippi automatic revocation statute covers some of these, but employer-sponsored ERISA accounts and public retirement systems like Mississippi PERS are excluded. Each account needs a manual beneficiary update — there's no single form that covers everything.

The Mississippi After-Divorce Checklist includes a complete estate-planning update section that covers wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, trusts, and every type of beneficiary designation — including which ones Mississippi law revokes automatically and which require manual action.

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