ChatterBank1 min ago
Alter Wills
I have had this thought in my head for some time and not sure whether I have asked the question before.
My other half and I plan to alter our wills as soon as we can get an appointment as things have moved faster than we expected.
We have mirror wills and that status will remain. However we plan to omit someone, and add that share to another already named beneficiary.
Were have little money but do own the property we live in.
Do we have to start a new will, or is it possible to amend the existing wills at a lesser cost.
My other half and I plan to alter our wills as soon as we can get an appointment as things have moved faster than we expected.
We have mirror wills and that status will remain. However we plan to omit someone, and add that share to another already named beneficiary.
Were have little money but do own the property we live in.
Do we have to start a new will, or is it possible to amend the existing wills at a lesser cost.
Answers
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Amendments to a will may be made by codicil. But that requires the same formalities as the original will did and a completely new will would. So there is no point in it; it's as much trouble as rewriting the existing will.
A codicil has its uses. But they are confined, in practice and common sense, to wills which are enormously complicated. Then, rather than going to all the trouble of redoing the whole thing, when all that is required is a minor alteration, it may be worthwhile. But the trouble with all codicils is that the codicil itself may be lost, or someone may not realise that it exists, since there is no clue in the original will that the codicil exists.
A codicil has its uses. But they are confined, in practice and common sense, to wills which are enormously complicated. Then, rather than going to all the trouble of redoing the whole thing, when all that is required is a minor alteration, it may be worthwhile. But the trouble with all codicils is that the codicil itself may be lost, or someone may not realise that it exists, since there is no clue in the original will that the codicil exists.
When we made our wills, the solicitor who did it said that codicils are falling into disuse in professionally written wills simply because more and more, the solicitor keeps an electronic copy, so its easy, and less subject to later error, to make the changes within the body of the will and produce a new will. When wills were hand written or typed, adding a codicil was much less work, therefore cost less, than rewriting the whole will.
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