An estate plan is written for the family you have on the day you sign it. Marriage, divorce and the arrival of a child change that family, and Texas law responds to some of those changes automatically and to others not at all. Knowing which is which helps you decide when a will, a power of attorney or a beneficiary form needs a fresh look.
Texas law does some of the cleanup after a divorce, but not all of it. Under Section 123.001 of the Texas Estates Code, if a testator's marriage is dissolved by divorce or annulment after the will is made, then unless the will expressly provides otherwise, the will is read as if the former spouse, and each relative of the former spouse who is not also the testator's relative, had failed to survive the testator. That includes fiduciary appointments, such as executor. Section 123.052 does something similar for a trust instrument the divorced person signed as settlor before the divorce: it revokes revocable gifts and fiduciary nominations in favor of the former spouse, or of the former spouse's relatives who are not also the divorced person's, unless a court order, the trust's express terms or a contract dividing the marital estate provides otherwise.
Powers of attorney are covered too. If your spouse is your agent, a divorce or annulment, or a court declaring the marriage void, ends that spouse's authority to act for you. Section 751.132 of the Estates Code applies that rule to a durable power of attorney, and Section 166.155 of the Texas Health and Safety Code applies it to a medical power of attorney; either document can provide otherwise.
Beneficiary designations deserve particular attention. Under Section 9.301 of the Texas Family Code, a life insurance designation of a spouse made before the divorce decree stops being effective once the decree is rendered, unless the decree itself names the former spouse, the insured names the former spouse again afterward, or the former spouse takes the proceeds in trust for a child or dependent of either of them. Section 9.302 applies a similar rule, with some exceptions, to individual retirement accounts and other retirement, savings and financial plans. Updating each form yourself is still the cleanest course.
The automatic rules also leave a gap: they remove a former spouse but name no one new. If your former spouse was your only choice as executor, that role may now be empty, and the court would look to the order of priority in Section 304.001 to decide who serves.
A child born or adopted after a will is signed is what the Estates Code calls a pretermitted child. Section 255.051 defines the term, and Sections 255.052 and 255.053 give a pretermitted child who is not mentioned in the will, provided for in it, or otherwise provided for by the testator, a share set by statute. If the will provides for children who were living when it was signed, the new child is entitled to a portion of what the will gives those children, calculated as if all of the children had shared equally. If the parent had children when the will was signed but it provides for none of them, the new child receives the share they would have taken had the parent died without a will and without a surviving spouse, other than any portion of the estate left to the child's other parent, and subject to a limit in Section 255.056 that protects part of a surviving spouse's share when the child's other parent is not that spouse.
Those statutory shares are a backstop, not a plan. They do not name a guardian, create a trust or decide who manages a young child's inheritance. Section 1104.053 lets a surviving parent choose, in a will or a written declaration, who should be guardian of the children's person. A new parent who has not made that choice in writing has a strong reason to do it.
Marriage changes the property picture going forward. Under Section 3.002 of the Texas Family Code, whatever either spouse acquires during the marriage is community property unless it qualifies as separate property, and Section 3.003 starts from a presumption that property either spouse possesses during the marriage is community. A will written while single was not drafted with that in mind.
Marriage also affects who would serve if your documents name no one. Under Section 304.001 of the Estates Code, the person named as executor in a will has first priority, ahead of the surviving spouse. If you want your new spouse, or someone else, to administer your estate, the will should say so. And for a person who dies without a will, Section 201.003 gives the surviving spouse the deceased spouse's community property only if the deceased spouse left no children or other descendants, or all of them are also the surviving spouse's, which matters for anyone marrying with children from an earlier relationship.
Beneficiary forms need a look after a wedding as well. Life insurance, retirement accounts and similar contracts that pay a named person at death are nontestamentary under Section 111.052 of the Estates Code. They generally follow their own designations, so updating a will alone may not reach them.
A move to Texas, buying or selling a business, a large change in assets or the death of someone named in your documents are also good prompts for a review. The Bowen Law Firm, PLLC in Houston says on its estate planning page that it offers ongoing support to help clients adjust an estate plan whenever necessary. Whichever lawyer you use, a short review after each major life event is easier than untangling an outdated plan later.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every family's situation is different; for advice about yours, speak with a licensed Texas attorney.