Docklands Solicitor

- Many Will writers would have you believe the slightest change in your circumstances should result in a re-write - this is not strictly necessary, but certainly after any major change you should review whether your existing Will is going to do what you need it to, and it is best practice to review its provisions every 3-5 years in any case, as it may be changes in the law that governs inheritance which impacts on what your Will is or is not going to do.

- Major changes include: marriage or remarriage, as if you become a ‘different legal entity’ to when you wrote your existing Will, it will be invalid.

- Should you separate from your spouse/civil partner, the first thing you should do after moving out or changing the locks is to update your Will, as if you die before your divorce is finalised your soon-to-be-ex will still be entitled to inherit a large part of your estate, which is probably not what you would want!

- If you have children since last writing your Will, you will need to update it to appoint guardians and make changes to the distribution of your estate, and once your children reach over 18 you may wish to include them as Executors – make them earn their inheritance!

- If you divorce, or if anybody appointed within your Will predeceases you, you should update it to replace those appointees and ensure those parts of your Will do not fail, and become invalid. - Professionally drafted Wills should include ‘substitution’ clauses to allow for eg the children of beneficiaries to inherit in their place to make the Will more flexible.

- For peace of mind take advantage of our Free Will Audit service to ensure yours is actually going to do what you think will and need it to.

Labels: children, divorce, review, separation, update, Will