Updating Your Will

Our commitment

At Eales & Mackenzie we are committed to ensuring that our clients’ wills are regularly updated to reflect their current intentions and remain legally enforceable in the eyes of the law. Regular consultation with an experienced estate planning lawyer from Eales & Mackenzie ensures that your most important document is legally protected and up to date.

The importance of updating your Will

Once you have a will in place, your circumstances and the law can both change. It is therefore necessary and beneficial to regularly revisit your Will in consultation with a lawyer to assess whether you need to make any changes. These changes may take place as a result of current life occurrences including:

• Births
• Deaths
• Divorces
• Marriages
• New Property
• Persons named in your current will as beneficiaries have died
• Buying or becoming a partner in a business
• A change in circumstances following a family dispute
• Becoming involved in a company or trust
• Any significant change in personal or financial circumstances

It is a common error for family members to be confused by a will that does not reflect their loved one’s current assets or responsibilities towards other family members. It is therefore important  to regularly update your will to ensure that these changes are reflected in your important documents. At Eales & Mackenzie, we are happy to assist our clients in ensuring that their wills are regularly updated to reflect any new or changed relationships, assets or other necessary amendments.

How a Will can be changed

There are two ways that a Will can be changed:

Codicil: A codicil is used to bring about minor changes to an existing will. It is important to note however, that any changes made to a valid will that cause confusion or contradict other provisions may be deemed as invalid and therefore ineffective.

Revoking the will: Revoking a will is a cancellation of the will. This is often done after a life changing event that renders the majority of the will invalid. The new will becomes the current and valid one, replacing the old will.

When should a Will be reviewed
A will can be reviewed or updated as often as you wish, however the most important time to do so is after a significant life change. At Eales & Mackenzie we promote the periodic review of a will to ensure that it is not only up to date and reflects your current assets, but also to ascertain if the will can be changed to function more efficiently in light of any changes to the law.