Changing your Will

As circumstances change after having made a Will, you may want to consider alterations.  You should not change the original Will in any way after signature.  Any such alterations will not be valid and may invalidate the Will itself.  In order to introduce alterations  you must make:-

• a codicil to the original Will or
• a new Will

A codicil is a supplementary document making alterations to a Will but leaving the remainder of the original Will valid.  For example, an executor may be appointed by codicil if an original executor has died or you may wish to leave part of your estate to a different beneficiary.  A codicil must be signed and witnessed in the same way as the original Will although the witnesses do not need to be the same as those initially involved.

It is advisable in most cases, and especially if any substantial alterations are to be made to the original, to make a new Will.  After your death, your Will and any codicils become public documents, so you may not want the alterations to be seen, especially if you are deleting a beneficiary or reducing their entitlement; this can often be a good reason for doing a new Will rather than a codicil.

Please contact us for further information.