Wills Amendment Act 1998
WILLS AMENDMENT ACT 1998

1

BERMUDA
1998 : 17

WILLS AMENDMENT ACT 1998

[Date of Assent 18 June 1998]

[Operative Date 1 August 1998]

WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision as to the effect of
divorce or annulment of marriage on a will and on the appointment of a
guardian by will or deed under the Minors Act 1950:

Be it enacted by The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Assembly of
Bermuda, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Short title, commencement and application
1 (1) This Act may be cited as the Wills Amendment Act 1998,
and shall come into force on 1st August 1998.

(2) The amendments made by this Act shall take effect as
respects a will or deed of appointment made by a person dying on or
after 1st August 1998 (regardless of the date of the will or deed of
appointment or the date of the dissolution or annulment of marriage).

Effect of divorce or annulment of marriage on a will
2 After section 14 of the Wills Act 1988 (revocation of will by
marriage) there shall be inserted the following section

WILLS AMENDMENT ACT 1998

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"Effect of divorce or annulment of marriage
14A (1) Where, after a testator has made a will, a decree of the
Supreme Court dissolves or annuls his marriage, or his marriage
is dissolved and the divorce is entitled to recognition in Bermuda
under the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations Act
1977, then

(a) provisions of the will appointing the testator's former
spouse as executor or trustee or conferring a power
of appointment on the former spouse shall take
effect as if the former spouse had died on the date
on which the marriage is dissolved or annulled; and

(b) any property which, or interest in which, is devised
or bequeathed to the former spouse shall pass as if
the former spouse had died on that date,

except in so far as a contrary intention is expressed in the will.

(2) Subsection (1)(b) is without prejudice to any right of a
former spouse who has not remarried to apply for financial
provision under Part III of the Succession Act 1974."

Effect of divorce or annulment of marriage on appointment of
guardian
3 After section 11 of the Minors Act 1950 (power of parents to
appoint guardian by deed or will) there shall be inserted the following
section

"Effect of divorce or annulment on appointment of guardian
11A An appointment under section 11(2) or (3) (including one
made in an unrevoked will or codicil) is revoked if the person
appointed is the spouse of the person who made the
appointment and either

(a) a decree of the Supreme Court dissolves or annuls
the marriage; or

(b) the marriage is dissolved and the divorce is entitled
to recognition in Bermuda under the Recognition of
Divorces and Legal Separations Act 1977,

unless a contrary intention is expressed in the appointment."