The decree ends the marriage. It does not, on its own, remove your former spouse from the documents that will actually control who receives what.
What Texas law does automatically — and what it does not
Texas provides some protection. On divorce, provisions of a will in favor of a former spouse are generally treated as though the former spouse predeceased you, and certain designations between former spouses are voided by statute.
That protection is real but incomplete, and relying on it is a mistake for three reasons.
First, it does not fix the rest of the document: if your will named your former spouse as executor and your former mother-in-law as the alternate, the alternate still stands. Second, federal law preempts state law for ERISA-governed retirement plans — meaning the beneficiary form on file with your employer's 401(k) plan controls, whatever the Texas statute says. Third, the statutory fixes create gaps rather than plans; the property still has to go somewhere, and "somewhere" may not be where you would choose.
The checklist, in order
Work through these in the weeks after your decree is signed, not "eventually."
- Retirement accounts. 401(k), 403(b), IRAs, pensions. Complete a new beneficiary designation with each plan administrator and keep the confirmation.
- Life insurance. Employer-provided and individual policies alike. Note that a decree may require you to maintain coverage for the children — read yours before changing anything.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts. Bank accounts and brokerage accounts often carry designations people have forgotten making.
- Your will. New executor, new guardian designation for minor children, new distribution scheme. If you have minor children, consider a trust rather than an outright gift at eighteen.
- Medical power of attorney and directive to physicians. Almost certainly names your former spouse.
- Statutory durable power of attorney. Same. Revoke the old one in writing and give notice to any institution that has a copy on file.
- Deeds. A decree may award the house, but the deed still has to be prepared, signed, and recorded. This step is missed constantly and surfaces years later at closing.
- Digital and employer records. Emergency contacts, HSA beneficiaries, HR files.
Questions about your own situation?
A short conversation is usually enough to tell you where you stand. We'll explain your options in plain terms.
Guardianship for minor children
A will is the place to name who would raise your children if you could not. After a divorce, that designation is more complicated than it looks: if the other parent survives you, that parent generally has the prior right regardless of what your will says. A guardian designation still matters — it governs if both parents are gone, and it speaks to the court about your judgment.
What often matters more is who manages the money. You can name a different person to handle assets left to a minor child than the person raising the child, and you can hold those assets in trust until an age you choose rather than releasing them at eighteen.
Doing it alongside the divorce, not after
We handle family law and probate in the same firm for exactly this reason. The estate-planning consequences of a decree are predictable, and the right time to address them is while the divorce is still in front of us — draft the new documents, then sign them the week the decree is entered. It removes a task from a list nobody wants to look at again.
If your divorce was years ago and this list looks unfamiliar, that is common and it is fixable in a single afternoon.