According to recent research from Direct Life Line Insurance, 60 per cent of divorced Brits who are now in a new relationship, have failed to update any of their personal finances since their previous marriage. This includes the beneficiaries of their pension, death in service benefits, health and life insurance, money in trust, or their will.
The sample of more than 2,000 UK adults found that 29 per cent of those who were previously married and now in another serious relationship, haven’t made provisions for their new partner in their will. Those that did update their will to reflect their new circumstances, took on average two years to do so.
Just one in seven Brits (14 per cent) had made provisions in their will for children from their previous marriages, while more than two-thirds of respondents who are divorced with children (68 per cent), didn’t transfer any assets to them before remarrying or entering a new relationship.
The hesitation to update personal documents was evident when just seven per cent of respondents revealed they had amended their health insurance since entering a new relationship, while even less (six per cent) had revised their life insurance policy.
After starting a new relationship, less than one in five (19 per cent) updated their pension beneficiary by switching the recipient details to their new partner. Changing the recipient of both their death in service benefit and life insurance policy to reflect their new partner had only occurred to 10 per cent and seven per cent respectively.
Business manager at Direct Life Line Insurance, Jane Morgan, concluded on the findings:
“Our research shows that many Brits are letting their financial administration slip behind when it comes to updating wills, pensions and policies. It can be easy to forget about things like death in service certificates… but it’s important to keep these up to date.”
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