Making a Will is an important job to do, and whilst making a Will, can provide comfort and protection, it can easily become out of date. Regularly reviewing and if necessary updating your Will is equally as important as making a Will in the first instance.
Whether or not you need to update your Will depends very much on whether your circumstances have changed and if so, how. It may well be that your Will has been prepared in anticipation of the change(s) in which case your Will probably won’t need updating, but it’s always worth checking!
Why Should I Update My Will?
Not regularly reviewing and updating your Will can result it in becoming outdated which could have some undesirable consequences for your family and friends after your death. An out-of-date Will can mean that the people whom you wish to inherit won’t. It’s advised you review your Will at least every 5 years or when there has been a major change in your circumstances.
When Should I Update My Will?
It’s advisable to review and if necessary update your Will at least every 5 years. Many things can change in such a short period of time and it’s important that any major changes such as having children, getting married, or perhaps the death of a named Beneficiary, are properly reflected in our Will.
1. Have you got Married or entered into a Civil Partnership?
Unless your Will has been prepared in anticipation of your marriage or civil partnership and includes a specific clause to say it must not be revoked by that ceremony taking place, then your Will is revoked as soon as you sign the Register.
There may therefore be a period of time after your marriage or civil partnership when you do not have any valid Will in place. The intestacy rules are unlikely to meet your wishes, and so it is important that you contact your solicitor ASAP either before or after the wedding, to ensure that you have a Will in place that does exactly what you want it to.
2. Have you Separated from your Spouse or Civil Partner?
If you have separated from your spouse or civil partner, but are not yet formally divorced then if they are named in your Will they will still inherit as though you were together.
The change to the Will may be as simple as removing them from it entirely, but this is not always the case if, for example, you have children together.
Updating your Will to take account of the breakdown of your relationship will mean one less thing to worry about whilst the formal process of divorce or dissolution of the civil partnership is being completed.
3. Have you welcomed New Children or Grandchildren into your Family?
If, since you made your Will, more children or grandchildren have been born (or are expected imminently) or adopted, then these new additions to your family may not be covered by your Will.
It may be that your Will simply says “my children” or “my grandchildren” in which case your expanding family is covered, but if the Will names individuals, then the new children or grandchildren will not be included and will not inherit anything.
Updating your Will to add in new arrivals, or to change named individuals to “children” or “grandchildren” can future-proof it so that no matter how many children or grandchildren you leave, they will each get a share of the allotted inheritance.
4. Has There Been a Death of a Named Beneficiary?
If someone that you have named in your Will dies, or a relationship breaks down, you might want to update your Will to remove that person from it. This applies to friends and family equally.
Your Will might already say what should happen to someone’s inheritance if they die before you (for example it might pass to their children) and if you are happy with what the Will says about this, then you don’t need to update it.
But, if your Will doesn’t specify, or you no longer want it to pass in the same way, then you need to update your Will to make sure that it meets with your wishes as they are now.
5. Estrangement or Change of Mind
If you have changed your mind about a beneficiary – either an individual, charity or church – since making your Will, then you need to update it as soon as possible to remove them.
There may have been a family falling-out or estrangement, which means that you no longer want a particular relation to receive anything under your Will.
Friends can drift apart, even without any specific falling-out, and it may be that someone who was very much part of your life when you made your Will is no longer in it at all.
As well as this, you may have supported a charity, church or other organisation at the time your Will was made, but since changed your views so that they are no longer the organisation you want to benefit from your Will.
BLOG: Six Big Questions Commonly Asked on Mental Capacity and Powers of Attorney
Having the peace of mind knowing that, were you to become too unwell to care for our own matters, you have an appointed person who will care for your property, finances, health, and welfare were you unable to care for them yourself is important. A Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) is the legal document that you need to give you this peace of mind.
How Do I Update My Will?
In all these circumstances, you should update your Will as soon as possible to ensure that the gifts you have made to these people or organisations are removed, or changed, so that they go to someone else, or another organisation, instead. If in doubt then you should seek legal advice from a trained and experience solicitor who will help you review your current Will, your current situation, and will advise on what changes should be made to your Will so that it continues to meet with your wishes.
Unless your Will has been prepared in anticipation of your marriage or civil partnership and includes a specific clause to say it must not be revoked by that ceremony taking place, then your Will is revoked as soon as you sign the Register.
There may therefore be a period of time after your marriage or civil partnership when you do not have any valid Will in place. The intestacy rules are unlikely to meet your wishes, and so it is important that you contact your solicitor ASAP either before or after the wedding, to ensure that you have a Will in place that does exactly what you want it to.
If you have separated from your spouse or civil partner, but are not yet formally divorced then if they are named in your Will they will still inherit as though you were together. The change to the Will may be as simple as removing them from it entirely, but this is not always the case if, for example, you have children together. Updating your Will to take account of the breakdown of your relationship will mean one less thing to worry about whilst the formal process of divorce or dissolution of the civil partnership is being completed.
If, since you made your Will, more children or grandchildren have been born (or are expected imminently) or adopted, then these new additions to your family may not be covered by your Will.
It may be that your Will simply says “my children” or “my grandchildren” in which case your expanding family is covered, but if the Will names individuals, then the new children or grandchildren will not be included and will not inherit anything.
Updating your Will to add in new arrivals, or to change named individuals to “children” or “grandchildren” can future-proof it so that no matter how many children or grandchildren you leave, they will each get a share of the allotted inheritance.
If someone that you have named in your Will dies, or a relationship breaks down, you might want to update your Will to remove that person from it. This applies to friends and family equally.
Your Will might already say what should happen to someone’s inheritance if they die before you (for example it might pass to their children) and if you are happy with what the Will says about this, then you don’t need to update it.
But, if your Will doesn’t specify, or you no longer want it to pass in the same way, then you need to update your Will to make sure that it meets with your wishes as they are now.
Contact us
☎️ Call our Wakefield office on 01924 290 029
☎️ Call our Garforth office on 0113 246 4423
☎️ Call our Sherburn in Elmet office on 01977 350 500
☎️ Call our Mapplewell office on 01226 339 009
☎️ Call our Ossett office on 01924 586 466
The content of this blog post is for information only and does not constitute formal legal advice and should not be relied upon as advice. Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited accepts no liability for any such reliance upon this content. Where the post includes links to external websites, Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited accepts no responsibility for the content of such sites. Any link to a third party website should not be construed as endorsement by Thornton Jones Solicitors Limited of any content, products or services which are outside our direct control.
