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Over time you will likely need to make changes to your Will. You should consider reviewing your Will every 5 years but especially in light of the following events; · Birth of a child or grandchild · Sale or purchase of a house or other significant asset · Marriage or civil partnership – your Will is automatically revoked and you will not have a Will unless you make a new one. · Death of your chosen beneficiaries or executors
When making changes to your Will, you have the option to make a Codicil or a new Will.
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A codicil is a secondary document which allows you to amend, add or delete parts of your existing Will. Codicils were once common and this is because hand writing wills was previously a more time consuming affair and creating a codicil was therefore a more efficient solution.
Codicil
Codicils tend to be best used to make minor amendments such as to guardians or to executors as they are less expensive than a new Will but they are not advised for any major changes.
Codicils do however attract their own risks. It’s easy to make a codicil, for example to change an executor, but forget to include other desired changes, perhaps such as removing that person as a beneficiary.
Codicils can ultimately complicate matters for your executors for example, they will need to review multiple documents to determine your wishes and the risk that they make an error is increased. As codicils should not be physically attached to the Will, there is the risk that a codicil is lost or if stored separately to the Will, that your executors don’t know you made a codicil.
If you make a Codicil for example to reduce a beneficiary’s entitlement, they are likely to be aware following your death, that their inheritance was changed. This can cause ill feeling between the beneficiary in question and your executors or your other chosen beneficiaries.
New Will
When you make a new Will, a full review of your wishes will be conducted and you new Will, will reflect these in one document. This therefore makes it simpler for both you and your executors to review your Will in the future and ultimately ensure that your wishes are carried out.
The review of your Will will take into account any changes in legislation, your estate, your personal life and potentially inheritance tax changes that you wouldn’t have considered when making a Codicil. For example, you may now be living with a partner or have had a child return to living at home and you want to make sure that they can continue to live in your property after you have died.
If you are making changes that might be considered controversial after your death, your advisor can review how best to protect your estate from any future claims.
All of which will protect your wishes and make sure that things are as easy for your loved ones and executors as they can be once you have passed away.
If you would like to discuss making changes to your Will or a new Will, please contact Jasmin Howlett on 01394277941 or at jasmin@fairstep.co.uk, alternatively fill out our contact form, and we would be happy to discuss your requirements in further detail.