What if a Will is Not Recent Enough to Include a New Spouse or Child?

All adults in Connecticut and throughout the country should make a will. Even when a person does not have assets of significant monetary value, and even when there may be only one or two heirs to whom the person wants to leave those assets, a will can limit confusion and the application of Connecticut intestacy laws after death. Yet in some cases, a will that was made years or even decades ago might still lead to some confusion. For example, if a person makes a valid will, and then a decade passes in which that person gets married and has a child, the will is not going to reflect that person’s spouse and child, to whom the person likely wants to leave their assets.

In such a situation, you may be wondering: what if a will is not recent enough to include a new spouse or child? There are actually provisions in Connecticut law that address this issue, and an experienced Canton wills lawyer at our firm can provide you with more information.

Marriage After the Execution of a Will Where Spouse is Not Named 

First, what happens if you make a will, later get married, and forget to revise your will to name your new spouse? If a person making a will (a testator) gets married after executing a will and the new spouse is not named in the will, Connecticut law says that “the surviving spouse shall receive the same share of the estate the surviving spouse would have received if the decedent left no will” — meaning the Connecticut laws of intestate succession will apply.

There are two exceptions, meaning situations in which the laws of intestate succession will not apply so that the surviving spouse is accounted for with regard to the will:

• Evidence exists that omission of the spouse from the will was intentional; or
• Testator provided for the spouse by other means (such as naming the spouse as a bank account beneficiary) and there is evidence (or it can be reasonably inferred) that those other means were intended to be in lieu of being named in the will.

Child Born After the Execution of a Will Where the Child is Not Named 

What will happen if you make a will and later have a child, who you forget to name in the will? Similar to Connecticut law concerning a spouse to whom the testator got married after the execution of the will, and who was not named in the will, a version of Connecticut’s laws of intestate succession will apply unless one of the above exceptions applies.

However, the situation becomes more complicated when there are older existing children who were named in the will. In such circumstances, there are terms for how the “omitted after-born or after-adopted child” will receive a fair share of the estate.

Importance of Reviewing Estate Planning Documents 

While there are laws in place that are designed to ensure a surviving spouse or child are not “forgotten” if a deceased person failed to update an existing will, the terms discussed above should also make clear just how important it is that you regularly review and update, where necessary, your estate planning documents.

Contact a Connecticut Wills Lawyer 

If you have any questions about making a will, or if you have an existing will that you want to revise, it is important to seek legal advice. An experienced Connecticut wills attorney at the Law Office of Brian S. Karpe can speak with you today. We are here to provide you with more information about wills, trusts, and other aspects of estate planning in Canton and throughout Connecticut.

Source:

cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_802a.htm#sec_45a-257a