14-2804

14-2804. Termination of marriage; effect;
revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers; federal law;
definitions

A. Except as provided by the express terms of a governing instrument, a court order
or a contract relating to the division of the marital estate made between a divorced
couple before or after the marriage, divorce or annulment, the divorce or annulment of a
marriage:

1. Revokes any revocable:

(a) Disposition or appointment of property made by a divorced person to that
person's former spouse in a governing instrument and any disposition or appointment
created by law or in a governing instrument to a relative of the divorced person's former
spouse.

(b) Provision in a governing instrument conferring a general or nongeneral power of
appointment on the divorced person's former spouse or on a relative of the divorced
person's spouse.

(c) Nomination in a governing instrument that nominates a 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.

2. Severs the interests of the former spouses in property held by them at the time
of the divorce or annulment as joint tenants with the right of survivorship or as
community property with the right of survivorship and transforms the interests of the
former spouses into tenancies in common.

B. A severance under subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section does 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 of the former spouses unless a writing
declaring the severance has been noted, registered, filed or recorded in records
appropriate to the kind and location of the property that a person relied on as evidence
of ownership in the ordinary course of transactions involving that property.

C. Provisions of a governing instrument are given effect as if the former spouse
and relatives of the former spouse disclaimed all provisions revoked by this section or,
in the case of a revoked nomination in a fiduciary or representative capacity, as if the
former spouse and relatives of the former spouse died immediately before the divorce or
annulment.

D. Provisions revoked solely by this section are revived by the divorced person's
remarriage to the former spouse or by a nullification of the divorce or annulment.

E. No change of circumstances other than as described in this section and in
section 14-2803 effects a revocation.

F. Any payor or other third party is not liable for making a payment or
transferring 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 taking any
other action in good faith reliance on the validity of the governing instrument, before
the payor or other third party receives written notice of the divorce, annulment or
remarriage. Any payor or other third party is liable for a payment made or any other
action taken after the payor or other third party receives written notice of a claimed
forfeiture or revocation under this section.

G. Written notice of the divorce, annulment or remarriage under subsection F of
this section must be mailed to the payor's or other third party's main office or home by
certified mail, return receipt requested, or served on the payor or other third party in
the same manner as a summons in a civil action. On receipt of written notice of the
divorce, annulment or remarriage, a payor or any other third party may pay any amount
owed or transfer or deposit any item of property held by it to or with the court having
jurisdiction of the probate proceedings relating to the decedent's estate or, if no
proceedings have been commenced, to or with the court having jurisdiction of probate
proceedings relating to decedents' estates located in the county of the decedent's
residence. The court shall hold the monies or item of property and, on its determination
under this section, shall order disbursement or transfer in accordance with the
determination. Payments, transfers or deposits made to or with the court discharge the
payor or other third party from all claims for the value of amounts paid to or items of
property transferred to or deposited with the court.

H. A person who purchases property from a former spouse, a relative of a former
spouse or any other person for value and without notice or who receives from a former
spouse, a relative of a former spouse or any other person a payment or other item of
property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally enforceable obligation is neither
obligated under this section to return the payment, item of property or benefit nor is
liable under this section for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of
property or benefit. However, a former spouse, a relative of a former spouse or any
other person who, not for value, received a payment, an item of property or any other
benefit to which that person is not entitled under this section is obligated to return
the payment, item of property or benefit to the person who is entitled to it under this
section or is personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of
property or benefit.

I. For the purpose of this section:

1. "Disposition or appointment of property" includes a transfer of an item of
property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument.

2. "Divorce or annulment" means any divorce or annulment or any dissolution or
declaration of invalidity of a marriage that would exclude the spouse as a surviving
spouse within the meaning of section 14-2802 but does not include a decree of separation
that does not terminate the status of husband and wife.

3. "Divorced person" includes a person whose marriage has been annulled.

4. "Governing instrument" means an instrument executed by the divorced person
before the divorce or annulment of that person's marriage to that person's former spouse.

5. "Relative of the divorced person's former spouse" means a 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.

6. "Revocable", with respect to a disposition, appointment, provision or
nomination, means one under which the divorced person, at the time of the divorce or
annulment, was alone empowered by law or under the governing instrument to cancel a
designation in favor of that person's former spouse or former spouse's relative, whether
or not the divorced person was then empowered to designate himself or herself in place of
that person's former spouse or in place of the former spouse's relative and whether or
not the divorced person then had the capacity to exercise the power.