Preparing your will: reviewing, revising, and changing your will

Wednesday’s daily focus: estates, wills, trusts, and probate law

Here’s the rule of thumb on when you need to review your will: every 5 years, and after major life events like getting married, having children, deaths in the family, and getting divorced. It’s important to make sure that your choices of executor and beneficiaries are still what you want, and to make any changes that might be needed.

If you need to change your will, one way is to do a new will altogether. Many people do new wills. There is no limit on doing a new will. But, if you want to make one or two changes to your will, another method is to do a codicil to your will. A codicil is a separate document that you sign that says what changes you are making to your will, and that you otherwise want your will to be valid. It’s kind of like an amendment to your will.

There isn’t an “expiration date” to your will. Once you make it, it stands forever, unless you change it or revoke it. So, it’s not only important that you do a will, but also that you keep your will current.

Talk Like A Lawyer

Intestate succession: the distribution of inheritances to heirs according to a state’s laws about who should collect.

Closing Argument

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, for the walks I want to take, for all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” – John Burroughs

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