Guidelines on How to Make Different Changes to Your Will
If you’ve been arranging your estate and properties for some time now, you know that the creation of a final will and testament is one of the most significant aspects of estate planning.
Changing a will is not difficult. If you’re mentally competent, you can amend, change, update, or even fully revoke your last will at any moment.
Depending on what you want to change, you have a few options. However, consult an estate lawyer in your jurisdiction to ensure that you are not doing anything to invalidate your will.
Find out how you can make will amendments in the sections below.
Make a Codicil of Wills
A codicil is a legal instrument that alters or supplements a will with full testamentary force. It can be used to make amendments to your will.
A codicil might be acceptable if one of your beneficiaries has married and you want to amend their name or if you’d prefer to name someone else as executor.
A codicil is an addendum to your original will that specifies your intended changes. A codicil must be created and signed pursuant to the same regulations as a will in most states.
If your state requires two witnesses to witness your will signing, you’ll also need two witnesses to witness your codicil signing.
Make a Memorandum of Personal Property
By simply altering the personal property memorandum, you may be able to change your will. This accounting is a separate document that, like a codicil, is attached to your will.
This method only works if you included a memorandum in your will when you first wrote it. You couldn’t use one to amend the legal document if you didn’t include one in the first place.
The personal property memorandum is acceptable if you’re leaving particular bequests to specific beneficiaries rather than splitting your overall wealth among them.
If you want the Renoir painting to go to one beneficiary and the Monet piece to go to another, this strategy works perfectly. You can disconnect the old memorandum and replace it with a new one if you no longer own a specific item of property or if you wish to modify who should receive it.
A memorandum, unlike a codicil, usually does not need to be signed or witnessed. However, you must mention it in your will such as “I give my personal property to my children according to the memorandum attached to this will.”
If your will doesn’t specify a memorandum, you won’t be able to create one afterward to make adjustments.
Make a Fresh Will
If there are significant modifications to your will, it’s frequently easier to cancel it and draft a new one. This is especially true if your state mandates that you fulfill all of the same legal requirements for a codicil as you would for a will.
This is also the safest option if you’re making multiple minor modifications to your will or a major one like changing your beneficiaries.
The most important component is ensuring that your old will is not followed after your death. You want your modifications to take precedence. You should clearly mention that all previous wills are revoked in your new will.
If you’ve made more than one will over the years, list them all by date. Get rid of the other erroneous wills now.
Another reason you might want to counsel with an attorney is that how you should go about doing this varies on state legislation.
You might be able to put “revoked” on each page of your old will, along with your signature or initials. Ideally, you’ll gather witnesses to watch you tear it up or burn it, emphasizing to them that you’re completely trashing your previous will.
The court can’t honor something that doesn’t exist anymore, and your witnesses can testify in court if necessary. Just make sure you destroy any old copies.
Conclusion
Make sure you follow the text of the law in your state to avoid having your legal will ruled invalid later because you changed it. Because state laws vary, it’s good to have a local estate planning attorney look over your finished product to ensure you’ve done everything correctly.
If you need an estate attorney in Colorado, Estate Planning Lawyers Colorado is your best option. We’re here for all your estate planning needs, including wills, trusts, probate, and legacy planning. Contact us today for a consultation.
