I’m going to be talking about the times in life that you need to update or make your will. People often ask me how often they should update their Will and the answer is, if you work with us, will contact you every two years and ask you one simple question, has anything changed? Because if something’s changed, we will update your Will. It might be something as simple as an executor’s address. It might be that one of your children has gotten married.
There are seven key occasions when you should update your Will, The first is if you get married. A quirk of the law in the UK means that if you get married, you Will is automatically revoked. Therefore, getting married is a really good time to update your Will.
Having children, well, that’s a great time to update your will because you’re going to need to appoint testamentary guardians.
When you move home. Giving your property away is one of the most important things that will can do, making sure your will has the right property details in your Will is very, very important. If you move in with a partner in a new relationship, having a Will is really important. It sets the ground rules. It make sure your assets go to the people you want them to go to, but it can also give rights to your new partner to use your home and your assets for a period of time while they sort themselves out.
Retirement is another key point to which you should really review your Will, your inheritance tax position and your planning. Your children will be getting older, so its probably time to include your grandchildren, it might even be your great grandchildren! Quite often these days, people live into their 90’s, their children are in their 70’s, their grandchildren can be in their 50’s, and their great grandchildren are in their 30’s and they are the people who need their assets most. So retirement is a great time to update your Will.
Sadly, bereavement is also a time to update your Will. if your current Will leaves everything to your partner or your partner has died before you, uou will need to reflect the current circumstances. It’s also a good time to look at your tax planning and making sure that your gifting is up to date. As I said, we ask you to update you will every couple of years or to consider updating your Will every couple of years. But those are the key occasions in life when you really should update your Will.
Thanks for watching. Hopefully that was useful for you. If you want to find out more about what we do or more information about this video, you’ll find it on our website.
