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Do I need to update my Will?

1 ....you marry. If you marry somebody after you have made a Will and your marriage was not specifically mentioned when you made your Will, your old will is automatically revoked and you must make a new Will


2 ....you separate. If you separate from a partner mentioned in your Will you should make a new Will to ensure that person receives no part of your estate. If you do want them to receive part of your estate you should consider re-writing your will anyway to ensure your family realise that your last will represents your actual wishes


3 ....you divorce. If you divorce without updating your Will, your Will would be read as though your previous spouse had pre-deceased you. This can cause problems for your intended beneficiaries if there are no alternative executors


4 ....you have a child. If you have a child or indeed if you have another child or perhaps your children have children you would most likely want to include them in any estate distribution


5 ....you receive an inheritance. If you receive an inheritance you should review your will as you may find that your estate is now subject to inheritance tax. Please see our inheritance tax page for further details


6 ....the inheritance rules change. With inheritance tax being charged at 40% on estates over £325k (as of April 2009) it is important to keep abreast of the tax rules and update your wills accordingly. Please see our inheritance tax page for further details


7 ....you retire. Although just because you have retired you need not update your will, you may now wish to consider community care planning. Please see our community care planning page for further details


8 ....your children have reached the age of 18. If your children were under 18 when you made your will you my now wish to remove any obsolete guardianship clauses. More importantly however you may now want to appoint them as executors of your will


9 ....your wishes change. You will need to update your will if you need to alter the entitlement that certain people receive


10 ....somebody in your will dies. You should review your will if a beneficiery, guardian or appointed executor in your will pre-deceases you


11 ....both your witnesses pre-decease you. Although there is no legal requirement to do so, if you know that both of your witnesses on your old will have pre-deceased you, you should perhaps update your will. If your will proves to be contentious there would be nobody alive to prove your will was written and signed without any undue influence from others