A Will isn’t a one-and-done document. Life changes, and if your Will doesn’t change with it, you risk leaving outdated instructions that no longer reflect your actual wishes, or, in some cases, instructions that are no longer even legally effective. Here are five signs it’s time for a review, and what each one actually means in practice.
1. You’ve married, remarried, or entered a civil partnership
This is the big one people often don’t realise: in England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership automatically revokes any existing Will, unless the Will was specifically written in contemplation of that marriage (with wording that says so explicitly). If you married after writing your Will and haven’t updated it since, there’s a real chance you currently have no valid Will at all, meaning the intestacy rules would apply if something happened to you, regardless of what your old Will said.
2. You’ve divorced or separated
Divorce doesn’t cancel your whole Will, but it does mean your ex-spouse is treated in the eyes of the law as if they’d died before you, so any gifts and executor appointments made to them typically fall away. This can leave real gaps or unintended results in the rest of your Will, particularly around who now inherits their intended share, or who takes over as executor if they were your only one.
Separation without a formal divorce, by contrast, has no automatic effect on your Will at all, which surprises many people, and is itself a good reason to review things after a relationship ends.
3. You’ve had children or grandchildren
If your family has grown since you wrote your Will, it won’t automatically include new children or grandchildren as beneficiaries, a Will only covers what it explicitly says. You’ll also want to make sure guardianship arrangements for any children under 18 are up to date, and consider whether you want to set up a trust to manage an inheritance until grandchildren reach an age you’re comfortable with.
4. Your executor or beneficiaries have changed circumstances
If someone you named as an executor or beneficiary has since died, become seriously ill, moved abroad, or you’re simply no longer in touch, your Will needs to reflect that. An outdated executor appointment, naming someone who’s no longer able or willing to act, can cause real delays for your family at an already difficult time, and may mean the court has to appoint someone else entirely.
5. Your assets have changed significantly
Bought a property, started a business, built up savings or investments, or acquired (or disposed of) assets you didn’t have before? Significant changes in what you own are a good prompt to check your Will still divides things the way you intend.
It’s also worth considering whether inheritance tax planning is now relevant, the standard nil-rate band is £325,000, with an additional £175,000 residence nil-rate band available in many cases where a main home passes to children or grandchildren, so a growing estate can move closer to a tax liability without you necessarily realising.
A sixth sign worth watching for: a change in your health, or your executor’s
If you or your named executor receive a significant health diagnosis, it’s worth revisiting your Will, not necessarily to change the beneficiaries, but to check your executor is still realistically able to take on the administrative burden of the role when the time comes, and that any guardianship or care wishes for dependants are still current.
How often should you review your Will even without a major life event?
As a general rule of thumb, it’s worth reviewing your Will every three to five years, even if nothing obvious has changed, circumstances shift gradually, laws around inheritance tax and intestacy do get updated periodically, and a periodic check gives you genuine peace of mind that it still says what you want it to say.
What does “updating” actually involve?
In many cases, a small, specific change can be made by a formal amendment (called a codicil) rather than rewriting the whole Will, for example, changing a single beneficiary’s details or updating an executor.
For bigger changes, or several smaller ones at once, writing a fresh Will is usually clearer, safer, and less prone to confusion than a Will with multiple codicils attached to it. Either way, it’s typically a quicker, more affordable process than starting from scratch completely as you’re refining an existing plan, not building one from nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I update my own Will by crossing things out and writing changes by hand?
No, handwritten alterations to a Will after it’s been signed and witnessed are not valid, and can create serious ambiguity about your actual wishes. Always use a formal codicil or a new Will.
Does my Will need updating just because house prices have gone up?
Not necessarily for the distribution itself, but rising asset values can bring an estate closer to the inheritance tax threshold, so it’s worth checking whether tax planning is now relevant.
How much does it cost to update an existing Will?
It depends on the scale of the change, a straightforward codicil is typically less expensive than drafting a new Will. I’ll always give you a clear, fixed-fee quote before any work begins.