Updating Your Will and Estate Plan After Divorce in Wyoming

Wyoming's Wyo. Stat. § 2-6-125 automatically revokes your ex-spouse's role in your estate plan when your divorce is finalized. Their inheritance, fiduciary appointments, and survivorship rights are treated as if they disclaimed everything or died before you.

That sounds comprehensive. It isn't.

What the Statute Handles (and What It Doesn't)

The automatic revocation covers:

• Bequests to your ex-spouse in your will
• Your ex-spouse's appointment as personal representative (executor)
• Trustee or co-trustee designations in revocable trusts
• Healthcare proxy and power of attorney appointments
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship (converted to tenancy in common)

It also revokes dispositions to your ex-spouse's relatives who aren't related to you by blood, adoption, or affinity.

But the statute only revokes revocable provisions. It doesn't rewrite your estate plan. It doesn't name new beneficiaries. It doesn't appoint a new executor. It simply creates gaps — and those gaps default to whatever your state's intestacy laws or the instrument's fallback provisions dictate.

Why You Need a New Will

If your will leaves everything to your ex-spouse with no contingent beneficiary named, revocation under § 2-6-125 means the bequest fails. Your assets then pass as if you died without a will — through Wyoming's intestacy statute. That could mean your children inherit everything (if you have them), or your parents, or your siblings, depending on family structure.

That might be fine. Or it might not match what you actually want.

A new will lets you:

• Name specific beneficiaries for each asset
• Appoint a new personal representative to manage your estate
• Designate guardians for minor children (if applicable)
• Create or update trusts for children or other dependents
• Specify how debts, taxes, and expenses should be paid

Power of Attorney and Healthcare Directives

Your divorce automatically revoked your ex-spouse's authority to act as your agent under a financial power of attorney and healthcare directive. But until you sign new documents naming someone else, you have no one authorized to make decisions for you if you're incapacitated.

This is the most urgent update. If you're in an accident tomorrow, hospitals and banks need to know who can act on your behalf. Draft and sign:

• A durable financial power of attorney naming a trusted person to manage your finances
• A healthcare power of attorney (or advance directive) naming someone to make medical decisions
• A living will if you want to specify end-of-life care preferences

Revocable Living Trusts

If you created a revocable living trust during the marriage, § 2-6-125 revokes your ex-spouse's beneficial interest and any appointment as trustee. But the trust itself still exists, and its terms may no longer reflect your intentions.

Review the trust document and either:

• Amend it to name new beneficiaries and a successor trustee
• Revoke it entirely and create a new one

If the trust holds real property, make sure any title changes from the divorce (quitclaim deeds, for example) are consistent with the trust's asset schedule.

What About Remarriage?

If you and your ex-spouse remarry each other, Wyo. Stat. § 2-6-125 automatically revives any provisions that were revoked solely by operation of the divorce — unless you signed a written agreement stating otherwise.

This means your pre-divorce will, trust, and power of attorney appointments snap back into effect. If you've already executed new documents naming different people, those newer documents would take precedence.

The Practical Checklist

After your divorce is finalized:

1. Draft a new will with current beneficiaries and executor
2. Sign a new durable financial power of attorney
3. Sign a new healthcare power of attorney or advance directive
4. Review and amend (or replace) any revocable trusts
5. Update beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance (especially ERISA-governed plans where state law doesn't apply)
6. Store originals securely and provide copies to your named agents

The Wyoming After-Divorce Checklist walks through each estate planning update with specific action items, so nothing gets overlooked during the transition.

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