Updating or Changing Your Will: When and How

Writing a will (see our guide to writing a will) is not a one-off task to tick off and forget. Life changes — marriage, divorce, new children, new property, a falling-out, a change of mind about an executor — and your will should be kept up to date to reflect it.

When you should review your will

There is no fixed schedule, but common trigger points include: getting married or entering a civil partnership (which usually revokes an existing will automatically — see below), getting divorced, having or adopting a child, buying property, a significant change in the value of your estate, the death of a beneficiary or executor named in your will, or simply a change of mind about who should receive what.

Marriage usually cancels your existing will

In England and Wales, getting married or entering a civil partnership generally revokes any will you made beforehand, unless the will was specifically written in contemplation of that marriage and says so explicitly. This catches people out — if you wrote a will before meeting your current spouse and never updated it after marrying, you may have no valid will at all, meaning the rules of intestacy would apply (see our guide to dying without a will).

Divorce does not cancel your will, but it does change it

Divorce does not revoke your will entirely, but it does have a specific legal effect: your former spouse is generally treated as if they had died before you, meaning they can no longer inherit under the will or act as executor, even if they are still named in it. This can leave gaps or unintended results, which is exactly why a will should be reviewed after divorce rather than left as-is.

Two proper ways to make changes

You cannot simply cross something out or write a note on your existing will — doing so can invalidate the whole document, or at best create confusion about what you actually intended. There are two accepted ways to make a change:

• A codicil — a separate, formal document that amends specific parts of your existing will, signed and witnessed in the same way as a will. Codicils suit small, simple changes, such as updating one gift or swapping an executor.
• A new will — for anything more than a minor change, most solicitors recommend writing an entirely new will that explicitly revokes all previous ones, rather than accumulating codicils, since multiple codicils can become confusing or contradictory over time.

Why marking up the original does not work

Any alteration made directly on the face of a will after it has been signed and witnessed is not automatically valid — for a change to take effect, it generally needs to be executed with the same formality as the original will (signed and witnessed), or made via a properly executed codicil or replacement will. An informal scribble, even if it reflects your genuine wishes, risks being disregarded or causing a dispute over what was intended.

What happens to your old will

When you make a new will that revokes previous ones, it's good practice to destroy the old will (or clearly mark it as revoked) to avoid confusion after your death about which version is current. Keep the new will somewhere safe and let your executor know where to find it — see our guide to will costs if you are weighing up solicitor-drafted versus DIY options for the update itself.

This is general information about the law in England and Wales, not personalised legal advice. Rules, thresholds and processes change, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules in places — for anything that depends on your own circumstances, it is worth speaking to a solicitor (ideally one accredited by STEP or Solicitors for the Elderly) or checking GOV.UK and Citizens Advice for current detail.