Divorce operates to treat your ex-spouse as if they had predeceased you on the divorce. That means that they cannot inherit under any pre divorce Will but it could mean, depending on the terms of that Will, that your estate or parts of it fall to be dealt with under the rules of intestacy. That means that part of your estate may not go to where you want it to go to.
In certain circumstances, regardless of what a Will says they may be able to make a claim on your estate, but having an up to date Will prepared after the divorce may help your executors deal with any such claims.
It may be that although you do not want your ex to inherit anything from you, you would still want them to be involved with your children and possibly administer a trust fund on their behalf, in which event you need to make a new Will after the divorce because a pre divorce Will will just treat your ex as if they died before you and therefore cannot have any formal involvement.
The safest thing to do, to achieve any outcomes that you want to achieve is to make a fresh Will quickly after you have divorced.
Should you wish to review your current Will or discuss making any changes please do not hesitate to contact our Wills and Probate solicitors to discuss this on 0161 696 6238 or complete our online enquiry form and we will contact you directly.
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