Will Health Check

The life events that break wills

Wills do not expire, but the law changes their effect when your life changes. Marriage or civil partnership revokes an earlier will automatically under section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 unless it was expressly made in contemplation of that marriage; many couples are intestate for years without realising it. Divorce works differently: under section 18A your former spouse is treated as having died before you, so gifts to them and their appointment as executor fail, while the rest of the will limps on with holes in it. Neither event tells you it has happened. The will in the drawer looks exactly the same.

Quieter problems worth catching

A child born after the will was written may not be covered by its wording, and no guardian will have been appointed for them. An executor or beneficiary may have died or lost touch. A witness who was also a beneficiary loses their gift entirely. A house move changes what the will is actually giving away, and a growing estate can drift over the inheritance tax threshold, which is where our IHT calculator is worth two minutes. As a rule of thumb, reread your will after every major life event and at least every three to five years.

Fixing what the check finds

Small updates, such as swapping an executor or adding a gift, can be made with a codicil signed and witnessed like a will. Bigger changes, and anything after marriage or divorce, usually mean a fresh will: see codicil vs new will for where the line sits, or draft one now with the free guided will builder. More reading lives on the wills and will writing hub. General information for England & Wales, not legal advice.