Keeping Your Will Up to Date

During your life there are bound to be changes and often they will have an effect on your Will.

If you have already made a Will that places you in a relatively small proportion of the population in England whose estate should avoid the intestacy laws.  However, keeping your Will up to date is, in many ways, of equal importance to creating the document in the first place.

The importance of having an up-to-date Will is highlighted by the events following the death of a wealthy man, whose circumstance had changed but his Will had not.  The man separated from his wife in 2005, and each signed an agreement that they would make no financial claim on the other. The couple never divorced, although the husband had entered into a new relationship.  The husband did not alter his Will, and it left his entire estate to his wife.  He died suddenly in 2008, and his mother and children sought to challenge his Will, but their application was declared void and was thrown out of court.

Even if there is no change in your status it is important to look at your Will from time to time to ensure that it still meets your needs.  A Will that is out of date may cause serious and financial consequences for your family.  It may have unintended and unfortunate results, or even be unenforceable.  For example if you marry after having made a Will and there is no mention of the impending marriage in the Will then the Will is automatically treated as having been revoked and your estate will be dealt with under the intestacy rules.  Similarly if you have a child or children after making your Will they may not automatically become a beneficiary, even if you have named any other children who were alive at the date of the Will.

Significant changes in your circumstances may occur between the time you made your Will and the time of your death.  It is therefore important to ensure you change your Will to take account of any change in your circumstances.

The most common changes in circumstances which will affect the contents of your Will are:-

• Getting married, remarried, or registering a civil partnership
• Getting divorced, dissolving a civil partnership or separating
• Birth or adoption of children if you wish to add these as beneficiaries in your Will
• Change in your financial circumstances
• Death of a close relative, spouse or civil partner
• Change in your living arrangements

It is vitally important that you keep your Will up to date, and if your family circumstances change make sure you review your Will.  A Will ignored when circumstances change is a time bomb waiting to go off.