Will - Revoking wills

Your Will - Trustees

Revoking your will

Introduction

This article is one of a set about wills. While some of the information pages explain various pieces of legislation which are relevant to making a will, others explain a particular aspect of will writing that you might like to consider.

This article explains how to revoke your will.

You can revoke your will by:

·        making a new will, but beware: a will is revoked by a later will only to the extent that new provisions are inconsistent with it. So it is wise always to state that your new will revokes all earlier ones. In practice, if your executors believe they have your latest will, they are unlikely to hunt around for an earlier one which may complicate your estate.

·        marrying;

·        destroying your old will - preferably in circumstances that make it very clear that you intend to revoke it and are not destroying it accidentally.

If you revoke simply by making a new will and including the usual words of revocation, make sure that you exclude any foreign will in your revocation. If you do not, the arrangements you thought you had made for your villa in Spain may not be effective after all.

A very important point to be aware of is that you must not alter your existing Last Will in any way. You must not cross portions out or add other words or blocks of text to it. You should not attach extra pages with pins, staples or clips. It is far better to prepare a new Last Will altogether and then destroy the old one. 

Here are just some of the events that would ordinarily require a change to your last Will - there are other reasons:

1. if you marry or divorce
2. the birth or adoption of children
3. to add or change guardians for children
4. a significant change in financial status
5. a significant change in tax laws
6. a desire to add beneficiaries
7. a desire to change beneficiaries
8. the death or incapacity of a named executor or trustee
9. to change personal details like address changes for you or someone mentioned in the will

Signing and dating your Will is known as executing your Will.

If by chance you find some error of law or fact in any Net Lawman information page, do please tell us. We should also welcome your suggestions for new subjects for information pages. These notes:

• do not provide a complete or authoritative statement of the law.
• do not constitute legal advice by Net Lawman.
• do not create a contractual relationship.
• do not form part of any other advice, whether paid or free.

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41. Ordinary Power of Attorney: a temporary alternative to an LPA
42. The Rule against Perpetuties and Accumulations
43. Your will - Choosing executors
44. Your will - Discretionary trusts
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47. Your will - Inheritance and children
48. Your will - Inheritance tax strategies
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53. Your will - Mutual wills and mirror wills
54. Your will - Post mortem tax planning
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56. Your will - Trustees
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