How To Amend a Will

A will, once made, is not a rigid and irrevocable document. There are numerous reasons and circumstances that may trigger the need for changing a will and the procedure, fortunately, is not complicated at all.

Why do you need to change a will?

Though the legal minimum age of an owner of properties to write a will is 18, normally people think of making a will after fairly advancing in age, when the thought of approaching death sinks into them. This may happen after a serious illness, a heart-attack, an accident or after some disturbing developments in the family related to properties and money. So a person makes a will to allocate the assets and properties that he would like to distribute to the heirs and dependents after his death in a manner suited to his likes and preferences.

A person, after writing the will, may perhaps remain hale and healthy for long and many subsequent developments in her life could make the original will lose its significance or its focus. There are many possible reasons for this, like divorce, remarriage, death of a beneficiary, acquisition of new wealth, a simple change of your mind about original allocations, etc.

How do you change your will?

There are two ways:

1. Add an amendment: You can add an amendment to your original will (this is known as a codicil) and attach it with your original will. The writing of the codicil too requires similar conditions as applicable to writing a new will (this is discussed later in this article).

   Where the changes in your original will are not too elaborate or too complicated, adding the codicil is much simpler. You don't have to go through the elaborate listing out of the properties, their reference numbers, etc., which you would have done taking lot of time and effort originally.

2. Write a fresh one: You can revoke the old will and write a fresh one. You simply write a totally new will and add a sentence prominently in it stating, "I hereby revoke all earlier wills written by me..." After completing the procedure or writing the new will fully, you should destroy the previous will totally (all pages and all the annexure to it) by tearing off, shredding or burning. In case you have kept any copies of the previous will, make sure to destroy them too.

Whether you are adding a codicil or writing a fresh will, you have to ensure that the essential procedural formalities are taken care of:

• It must be in written (or typed, word-processed) and duly signed by you in the presence of two witnesses. The witnesses should be able to testify that you are mentally competent to write the will (in case of any litigation in the future).
• It must contain your personal details like name, full address, marital status, occupation, etc.
• It must contain the name and addresses of the two witnesses whose signatures must be made in the will in your presence. The witnesses should not be beneficiaries in your will.
• In case the will is to be executed under the supervision of executors and trustees, their names and other particulars should be stated.

Here are some common FAQs about changing a will:

• How many times can I revoke my will? Any number of times. Each time the above said procedures should be followed.
• What will happen if I forgot to destroy my old will? As long as you have written the clause "I revoke" in your new will, there is not much to worry about. Once revocation is clearly stated, as per law, the latest will is the effective one.
• What if the revocation statement has not been included? Then there is going to be trouble. Both the wills become valid. Whatever conflicting clauses appearing in both wills would need interpretation and implementation. But assuming that the new will is totally contradictory to the old will, then whatever the new will contains will become legally valid.

  In general, clauses given in the new will would take predominance. An example: You have gifted your farm land in the village to your daughter and the apartment in the city to your son in your original will. In the revised will, you have donated the farm land to a charity and said nothing about the flat. You have forgotten to put the revocation clause in the new will nor destroyed the old will.

  If a dispute is raised by your daughter based on the original will, she stands to lose the farm land, since the new will clearly states that it is meant for charities. Your son will get the flat by virtue of the original will, since nothing is stated specifically about it in the new will!

To conclude, the best course of action in changing a will would be to write a new one, clearly stating the revoking of the earlier one and physically destroying the old one.