§ 2-6-125 — Revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers by divorce or annulment; effect; revival; other changes excluded

Wyoming § 2-6-125

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 02: Wills, Decedents' Estates and Probate Code
• Ch. 6: WILLS
• Art. 1: IN GENERAL

Text

(a) As used in this section:
(i) "Divorce" or "annulment" means any dissolution of
marriage through a divorce or annulment that results in the
exclusion of the spouse as a surviving spouse for purposes of
probate and nonprobate transfers upon death of the spouse. A
decree of separation that does not terminate the status of
spouses is not a divorce or annulment for purposes of this
section;
(ii) "Divorced person" means a person who has
divorced from the person's spouse or whose marriage has been
annulled;
(iii) "Governing instrument" means an instrument
executed by a divorced person before the divorce or annulment of
the marriage to the person's former spouse that the divorced
person could have revoked or amended;
(iv) "Relative of the divorced person's former
spouse" or "former spouse's relative" means any person who is
related to the divorced person's former spouse by blood,
adoption or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is
not related to the divorced person by blood, adoption or
affinity;
(v) "Revocable" means a disposition, appointment,
provision or nomination under which the divorced person, at the
time of the divorce or annulment, was alone empowered by law or
under the terms of a governing instrument to cancel the
designation in favor of the divorced person's former spouse or
former spouse's relative regardless of whether the divorced
person was then empowered to designate himself in place of his
former spouse or former spouse's relative and regardless of
whether the divorced person then had the capacity to exercise
the power of designation.
(b) Unless the express terms of a governing instrument
provide for the disposition to a former spouse after divorce or
unless a governing law, court order or contract relating to the
division of the marital estate made between two (2) divorced
persons before or after the marriage, divorce or annulment
states otherwise, the divorce or annulment of a marriage shall
immediately:
(i) Revoke any revocable:
(A) Disposition or appointment of property made
by a divorced person to the former spouse in a governing
instrument;
(B) Disposition or appointment created by law or
in a governing instrument to a relative of the divorced person's
former spouse;
(C) Provision in a governing instrument that
confers a general or special power of appointment on the
divorced person's former spouse or on a relative of the divorced
person's former spouse;
(D) Nomination in a governing instrument that
nominates the divorced person's former spouse or a relative of
the divorced person's former spouse to serve in any fiduciary or
representative capacity including a personal representative,
executor, trustee, conservator, agent or guardian.
(ii) Sever the interests of the former spouse in
property held by the divorced person and the former spouse at
the time of the divorce or annulment as joint tenants with the
right of survivorship and property held as tenants by the
entirety. Property interests of the divorced person and former
spouse severed under this paragraph shall become tenancies in
common.
(c) A severance of interests under paragraph (b)(ii) of
this section shall not affect any third-party interest in
property acquired for value and in good faith reliance on an
apparent title by survivorship in the survivor or in the name of
the survivor of the former spouse of the divorced person unless
a writing declaring the severance has been noted, registered,
filed or recorded prior to the third party gaining an interest
in the property in records appropriate to the kind and location
of the property that are relied upon in the ordinary course of
transactions involving property that are evidence of ownership.
(d) Upon entry of an order of a divorce or annulment,
provisions of a governing instrument shall be given effect as if
the former spouse and relatives of the former spouse disclaimed
all interests revoked by this section. For nominations in a
fiduciary or representative capacity revoked by this section,
provisions of a governing instrument shall be given effect as if
the former spouse and relatives of the former spouse died
immediately before the divorce or annulment.
(e) Provisions that are revoked solely by operation of
this section shall be revived upon the divorced person's
remarriage to the former spouse unless revival is specifically
prohibited by a prenuptial or other written agreement signed by
both parties.
(f) No change of circumstances other than as described in
this section revokes a will.
(g) A payor or other third party is not liable for having
made a payment or transferred an item of property or any other
benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument
affected by a divorce, annulment or remarriage, or for having
taken any other action in good faith reliance on the validity of
the governing instrument, unless the payor or other third party
received reasonable written notice of the divorce, annulment or
remarriage. A payor or other third party shall not have a duty
or obligation to inquire as to the continued marital
relationship between a divorced person and a beneficiary or to
seek any evidence with respect to a marital relationship.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to deprive the
rightful owner of any funds, item of property or other benefit
from seeking to recover the payment, item of property or other
benefit from the wrongful recipient of that payment, item of
property or other benefit.