Florida Statute 732.703
“Effect of divorce, dissolution, or invalidity of marriage on disposition of certain assets at death”
What it means
Divorce ends the marriage but doesn't rewrite beneficiary forms — this section does that job. A designation naming a spouse on a life insurance policy, annuity, employee benefit plan, IRA, pay-on-death account, or transfer-on-death security, made before the marriage was judicially dissolved or declared invalid, is void, and the asset passes as if the former spouse predeceased the decedent.
The exceptions carry real weight: federal law can override (many employer plans under ERISA), a designation re-made after the divorce naming the ex on purpose stands, and court orders, irrevocable designations, jointly held assets, remarriage to the same person, and chapter 121 state retirement plans all sit outside the statute.
- Applies when the designation predates a judicial dissolution or invalidation of the marriage — the former spouse is then treated as having predeceased.
- Covered assets include life insurance, annuities, employee benefit plans, IRAs (§408/§408A), POD accounts, and TOD securities.
- Federal law can preempt — an ERISA-governed employer plan may still pay the named former spouse.
- A designation signed after the dissolution that names the former spouse remains valid.
- Other exceptions: court orders, designations the decedent could not unilaterally change, jointly held assets, remarriage to the former spouse, and chapter 121 state retirement plans.
How it plays out
We check this statute on every estate with a divorce in its history, and it cuts both ways. It saves families from stale paperwork — the ex still named on an old policy usually takes nothing. It also fails people who relied on it: employer group life and 401(k) plans governed by ERISA can pay the former spouse anyway, federal preemption being the statute's own first exception. Updating every beneficiary form at the divorce remains the only clean answer.
Questions people ask
