Whether you had an estate plan going into your marriage or not, your divorce changed everything. The settlement resolved custody and assets. It did not address what happens to your children if you die. For divorced and separated fathers, that gap almost always exists, even when it feels like the plan is in place. Here is what actually needs to be updated.

Under the law, a stepparent has no automatic legal relationship to a stepchild. Not unless that child has been formally adopted. No matter how many years you've shown up. No matter what you call each other. The law has no record of what you've built.  That gap, between the family you live in and the family the law recognizes, is the one a plan has to close.