Many people make a will, put it somewhere safe and feel relieved that it is done. That relief is well earned. But a will is written for the circumstances you are in when you sign it, and it does not update itself when those circumstances change. A will that was right ten years ago can quietly become unsuitable, or in some cases stop working altogether.

There is no fixed rule about how often to review a will. A sensible habit is to look at it every few years, and to look again whenever something significant happens. Here are the events that most often mean a review is due.

Marriage or civil partnership

This is the one people are most often surprised by. In England and Wales, getting married or forming a civil partnership generally revokes any will you made before. In other words, the old will is treated as cancelled, and unless you make a new one, your estate will pass under the intestacy rules.

There are exceptions. The main one is where a will was made in expectation of a particular marriage or civil partnership and shows that it was not meant to be revoked by it. Whether an existing will falls within an exception depends on its wording, so it is worth having it checked rather than assuming.

The intestacy rules do give a spouse or civil partner a significant share of the estate, but they may not reflect what you want, particularly if you have children from an earlier relationship. Planning a new will around the time of the wedding is usually the simplest approach.

Separation, divorce and new relationships

Divorce works differently. A final divorce or dissolution does not revoke your will, but the law generally treats your former spouse or civil partner as if they had died on that date for the purposes of your will. Gifts to them usually fail, and if they were appointed as an executor or guardian, that appointment usually falls away too. Depending on how the will is drafted, the result can be unexpected, so a review is wise.

Separation on its own changes nothing. Until the divorce is finalised, your spouse remains your spouse for these purposes, and your will continues to take effect as written. Many people separate and do not formally divorce for some time, and they may not want their estranged spouse to inherit in the meantime. If that applies to you, it is worth acting early. Our family law team can explain how this fits with a separation.

New relationships matter as well. Unmarried partners have no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, however long they have lived together. If you want to provide for a partner you are not married to, a will is usually the clearest way to do it.

Children, grandchildren and guardians

The birth or adoption of a child is a natural time to review. You may want to:

  • appoint guardians to look after children under 18 if both parents have died;
  • decide at what age children should inherit outright, rather than on reaching adulthood;
  • set up a trust so that money is managed for them until then;
  • make sure step-children or children from different relationships are treated as you intend.

Grandchildren, a child with additional needs, or a family member who would find it hard to manage a lump sum are also good reasons to think again about how gifts are structured.

Property, money and business interests

Changes in what you own can affect whether your will still works as intended.

Buying or selling a home

If your will leaves a particular property to someone and you later sell it, that gift may simply fail. It is also worth checking how you own a home with someone else. Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving owner, regardless of what your will says. Property held as tenants in common allows your share to pass under your will. Our residential conveyancing team can help you check this when you buy.

A significant change in your finances

An inheritance, a pension lump sum, the sale of a business or a substantial fall in your assets can all change what makes sense. Gifts of fixed sums that seemed modest may now be too large or too small relative to the rest of the estate. Inheritance tax planning may also become relevant, and the rules in this area do change, so it is worth taking advice on current rules rather than relying on an older plan.

Owning a business

If you own a business or shares in a company, your will should work together with any shareholder or partnership agreement. See our page on business succession planning for more on this.

Changes to the people named in your will

Look at who you have named, not just who benefits. An executor may have died, moved abroad, fallen out with the family or simply become less able to take on the role. A beneficiary may have died before you, and depending on the wording, their gift might pass to their children or may fail. A friendship or family relationship may have changed.

A move abroad, or owning property in another country, is also worth mentioning, as it can raise questions about which country’s rules apply.

How to make changes properly

Please do not write on, cross out or staple anything to a signed will. Informal changes are usually invalid and can create doubt about the whole document.

A small change can sometimes be made with a codicil, which is a separate document that amends the will and must be signed and witnessed in the same way. In practice, a fresh will is often clearer, particularly where several changes are needed, because it avoids executors having to read two or three documents together.

A review is also a good moment to think about lasting powers of attorney, which deal with decisions during your lifetime if you are unable to make them yourself. These are separate from your will but part of the same planning. You can read more on our wills, trusts and probate page, and our guide to what happens during probate explains what your executors will eventually need to do.