Let’s face it — creating a will isn’t something that most people would consider one of their favorite activities. Still, this is important for all adults to do so that they aren’t leaving their loved ones without knowing their wishes.
Once you create a will, you can’t just shove it in a safe and forget that it exists. You should review your will periodically or when things in your life change. This ensures that the will contains your wishes.
Annual reviews
Even if nothing in your life is changing, it is a good idea to review your will once per year. Choose a date and always read over it on that date. Make sure that everyone named in your will is alive and that you still want them to have the assets you have named in the document.
Major life changes
Major life changes, such as getting married or divorced, are times when you need to review the will. In these cases, you might have to make some major changes. You should also review the will if you have children or if your children become adults. If you have grandchildren in your will, you might need to change it if you have new grandchildren born. You may also need to make revisions if your financial status changes considerably, such as if you sell or purchase assets.
Changes for your wishes
Since your will is based off of your wishes, you will have to correct things when those wishes change. You should make sure that you only do this if you are sure that you want to make a long-term change to the will. If you are contemplating major changes, you might want to sleep on the decision and determine how you feel after some rest.
Initiating these changes
When you change your will, you will actually create an entirely new will. In this new will, you need to put in wording that you are revoking all previous wills. This should be make very clear so that nobody can say that you really meant to use the previous will for some reason.
Make sure that you take time to review other estate planning components during this review. Verify that guardianship and powers of attorney designations are set up in the way that you want. Look at the medical directives to make sure that your wishes for your final days haven’t changed.
