When Should I Update My Will?

Your will is a snapshot, not a permanent document

A will reflects your circumstances at the moment you wrote it. As life changes, the document can fall out of step with your actual wishes. The general rule is to review your will every three to five years, or sooner after any significant life event.

Here are the main triggers.

Getting married

Marriage automatically revokes any will you made before it in England and Wales. This is one of the most common causes of unintended intestacy. Write a will before your wedding, marry, then forget to write a new one — and you now have no will at all. Make a new one as soon as possible after the wedding.

Getting divorced

Divorce does not cancel your will, but it does change its effect. Your ex-spouse is treated as if they died before you, so they cannot inherit from you or act as your executor. That sounds convenient, but it can leave gaps. If your will left everything to your spouse with no further instructions, the residue of your estate may fall into intestacy.

Separation without divorce changes nothing. An estranged spouse can still inherit under your will until the divorce is finalised.

Having children

Having a child does not automatically invalidate your will, but it often makes it outdated. Your new child may not be named as a beneficiary. No guardian may be appointed. If your estate goes entirely to your spouse and they later die without updating their will, your children could lose out.

Update your will when a child is born, not later.

An executor or beneficiary dies

If someone named in your will dies before you, their role or gift needs to be reallocated. A good will includes backup provisions for this, but it is worth checking that the backups you named still make sense.

Your assets change significantly

Buying a property, selling a business, inheriting money, or moving abroad can all change what your will should say. An outdated will may refer to assets you no longer own or fail to cover significant new ones.

Your wishes simply change

People grow apart. Relationships change. You may feel differently about who should benefit from your estate than you did when you first wrote your will. That is reason enough to update.

How to update

For minor changes, a codicil (a formal amendment to your existing will) can work. For significant changes, writing a new will is cleaner. A new will includes a revocation clause that cancels all previous wills and removes any ambiguity.

With PureWill, you can write a new will at any time for £79.