Wills can be made 20, 30, 40 or even more years ahead of when they are to come into effect, they have no expiry date and remain valid until they are revoked or replaced.

Have any of the following life changing events happened to you:

(a)  Moving home?

(b)  Emigrating or immigrating?

(c)   Changing job or retiring?

(d)  Having a child or grandchild or acquiring a son-in-law or daughter-in-law?

(e)  Losing a close relative?

(f)   Getting married, entering a civil partnership or starting to cohabit?

(g)  Getting divorced?

(h)  Setting up a business?

(i)   Winning the lottery or becoming bankrupt?

If any have, you should consider whether your Will needs to be updated.

Moving Home

If you or one of your beneficiaries simply changes address then there is no need to update your Will.  However it can be useful to let us have a note of the new addresses to put with your Will so that your beneficiaries can be contacted more easily in the event of your death.

When you purchase your first house, you now own a valuable asset, and you may wish to consider who you would want to inherit it when you die.  If you buy jointly with a partner and you are not married, then if either of you were to die without making a Will, it could be your nearest family members and not your partner who inherit your share of the house, not perhaps the outcome you would expect or wish.

If you already have a Will which leaves a specific legacy of your current house to someone, if you sell your house, you may need to change your Will to include your new house instead, or to provide for the sale proceeds being given to the beneficiary instead of the house itself.

Change of Assets

We generally advise people to be careful of leaving legacies of specific items in their Will because, for example, an item of jewellery could be lost, you could change your car or move to a different bank.

If you are lucky enough win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money, you should really consider getting some financial advice and doing some inheritance tax planning.

When setting up a limited company you should consider if there are provisions in place to make sure that the shares are passed on to the correct people in the event of your death. The terms of the company’s Articles of Association would need to be considered to ensure there were no inconsistencies between them and your Will. If you were previously a partner in a partnership and this is turned into a limited company, any reference to the partnership in your Will would no longer be valid.

Immigrating and Emigrating

Simply changing your domicile or where you live, does not by itself revoke a Will you have made in the past.  If you have made a Will in England and move to live permanently in Scotland, your English Will would still apply.  Should you die without making a Will, however, the law of intestacy which sets out who would inherit your estate is different north and south of the border.

If you own heritable property abroad, then you should take advice on preparing a separate Will in the country in which this property is situated.

Changing job

When you change job, you should check that any pension plan benefits are nominated in favour of the person you wish to inherit.  Often these do not form part of your estate when you die and are paid out at the discretion of the Trustees of the Pension Plan, usually to your nominated beneficiary or your nearest or dependent relatives.

Changes in family members

If one of your beneficiaries gets married or changes their name there is no need to update your Will.  Again it would be useful to let us have a note of this information to keep with your Will.

Should someone who is mentioned in your Will either as an Executor or a beneficiary die, you may wish to consider appointing someone else in their place.  If one of your beneficiaries dies, then their children or grandchildren could take their share in their place, if your Will has been worded this way.  If your family increases, you may wish to review your Will to make sure that it includes all the people you wish it to benefit.

In the event that you separate from your partner or get divorced, any Will you made previously is not automatically revoked.

If you would like to make your first Will or review your current Will, please contact either our Forbes McLennan or Vivienne Bruce (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by email or telephone on 01224 581581.