We are often asked by clients who wish to rewrite their Will if they need a completely new Will or just a Codicil.
A Codicil is where somebody makes an amendment to a Will but doesn’t rewrite the whole Will.
It is fair to say that, through our Probate division, we do not see many Codicils these days.
If you went back not too many years, Wills would have been typed, often on high quality paper. If, for example, there was a trust involved, the administrative provisions of the trust could easily run to many pages.
If somebody then wanted to change the Will, say to choose a different executor or adding or removing a beneficiary, then it would be a significant task to rewrite.
Moving forward to today and we have the joys of computers, standard precedents and “re-writing” a Will is straightforward.
It is, therefore, our preference that our clients rewrite their complete Will.
One advantage of the rewrite is that the old Will ceases to exist. As an example, you may have a Will leaving, say £5,000, to four friends. If you fall out with a friend and the Will is rewritten, the friend would never know he was included.
If you just used a Codicil, “In my Will reference to friend A in Clause 5 should be deleted”, then both the Codicil and the Will would need to be sent to the Probate Registry.
Once sent to the Registry, all Wills and Codicils become a public document which anybody can look up. Your friend could then see your change.
Also, it should be noted that for a Codicil to be effective, it still has to be in the legal form the same as a Will.
In other words, it has to be signed by the testator with the signature being witnessed by two people, so a Codicil is not a quick fix.
We have seen cases where we have been given notes after somebody has died saying “I need to change my Will to xxxxxxx”. A handwritten note is not a Codicil.
Note:
For all advice on Wills, please contact Barry Jefferd or Carol George on 01480 426500 or email wills@georgehay.co.uk. GH Wills is the trading name of GH Wills Ltd.
