Should you Review your Existing Will?

TRF Wills recommends that you review your existing will & estate plan every 3-5 years. This is to make sure that your Will still matches your wishes. We also recommend reviewing your planning when you have a change in your personal circumstances or when a beneficiary has a change in their circumstances.

Many a bitter feud has been fought over an inheritance that could have been avoided had the deceased kept their Will up to date. For a recent example of this, we need only look at the Will of Joyce Appleby. In this case, a dispute arose over Joyce’s Will which she had arranged in 2009. In her Will, she had left a share of her estate to her son Don, or if he died before her then instead to “his wife Cindy”. Don later divorced Cindy and remarried Maya. He subsequently died before Joyce, and a dispute then arose after Joyce’s death over whether Don’s share of Joyce’s estate should pass to Cindy or Maya. The basis for Maya’s argument was that as his wife at the time of his death, Don’s share of Joyce’s estate should pass to her rather than Cindy as Cindy no longer fitted the description of “his wife”.

Ultimately Maya lost and it was decided that the half share of Joyce’s £840,000 estate should pass to Cindy. Nobody knows if this was Joyce’s intention.

You should review your estate planning upon any of the following events:

Marriage

If you marry, your existing will is automatically revoked unless it was created in contemplation of that marriage and an appropriate clause included in the Will to confirm this. If you are engaged and planning to marry, please ensure that you arrange your Will accordingly.

Divorce

If you divorce, any gifts in your Will to your former spouse or civil partner are made void. As are any appointments of them as an Executor, Trustee or Guardian. Even though gifts to former spouses will fail after your divorce from them has been completed, it is still a good idea to review your Will planning. After the divorce, your financial circumstances may have changed, or you may want to reconsider how you provide for other beneficiaries now that you aren’t providing for your spouse.

You should also review your Will planning if any of your beneficiaries become divorced or are in the process of going through a divorce. This avoids disputes like we have seen above in the Joyce Appleby case. There are also steps you can take to avoid a beneficiary’s share of your estate passing to their estranged spouse if they subsequently divorce after your death.

Changes in law

It is important to keep abreast of changes in law that may affect your estate planning. This is especially important if you have a large estate that will be liable to Inheritance Tax (IHT) as changes in tax law may affect you and if your Will isn’t kept up to date, then your estate may end up paying more IHT upon your death. In 2017 there was a large change to tax law that introduced the “Residence Nil Rate Band” which is a special IHT allowance when your home is gifted directly to your children (or other direct descendants) upon your death. If you haven’t updated your Will to take advantage of this new allowance, then you ought to review this as soon as possible.

General Changes in Circumstances

It is also advised to review your Will after other general changes in circumstances, such as when a beneficiary dies, or has children of their own. Also, relationships change over the years and, unfortunately, friends and family with whom we were once close may have drifted away.

On a happier note, perhaps you have repaired a relationship with a formerly estranged child, and you now want to change your Will to benefit them.

If it has been a while since you reviewed your Will, or if any of your circumstances have changed, then it is a very good idea to check that you’re still happy with the content of your Will. For further details, please visit our Wills page WITHOUT fear of consultation fees or obligation.