It appears that Amy Winehouse actually had a working, current estate plan. According to this US News report, it was Britain's default laws that favor ex-spouses that motivated her and her lawyers to actually do her planning. Her ex-spouse is apprently in prison. That may be evidence of something, although I am not the guy with the details on him.
Just a reminder to re-do your planning after the divorce. Make sure you comply with the provisions of your Marital Settlement Agreement ("MSA") which often requires, for example, that you maintain life insurance for the benefit of your minor children for a period of time. Ideally, you come to me (or someone like me) before you negotiate the terms of the MSA. You can build language into your MSA that specifies exactly what you need to do - for example, you can say your ex-spouse serves as a co-trustee with your siblings (if you trust them all) over the kids' insurance trust. Or you can say your ex gets the firat $X (the cash immediately needed to deal with your loss - which is often around $100K-$200K for a working professional parent), and the balance goes into a trust for your kids. You can set out the beneficiary designations of retirement accounts, and integrate the whole agreement into your shareholder agreements and other business continuity documents.
If Amy, of all people, can do it, then you sure as hell can.
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