Start with the rule that surprises everyone: you cannot amend a will by hand. Crossing out a name, writing in a new one and initialling the margin does nothing legally. Changes made after execution are presumed invalid; at best they are ignored, at worst they cast doubt on the whole document. English law gives you exactly two ways to change a will: add a codicil, or make a new will. Everything else is decoration.
Option one: a codicil
A codicil is a short legal document that amends specific parts of your existing will and leaves the rest standing. It must be signed and witnessed with the same formality as the will itself: two witnesses, present at the same time, neither of them a beneficiary. At probate, the will and its codicils are read together as one document. What a codicil is and how it works has its own guide; the short version is that it suits small, clean changes.
Option two: a new will
A new will starts fresh. Its first clauses revoke all earlier wills and codicils, and from the moment it is validly executed, the old documents are legally dead. For anything structural, the new will is the honest tool: one document, no cross-referencing, nothing for a probate registry or a disappointed relative to pick apart.
How to tell which you need
- Codicil territory: swapping an executor, updating an address or a married name, adding or adjusting a modest cash gift, changing a funeral preference
- New-will territory: changing main beneficiaries or shares of the residue, marriage, divorce or a new partner, a new child or grandchild restructure, adding a trust, buying or selling significant property, anything touching several clauses at once
- Rule of thumb: one small self-contained change is a codicil; two or more changes, or one big one, is a new will
Two life events with special rules
Marriage revokes your will. Automatically, entirely, and mostly unnoticed: marrying or entering a civil partnership cancels any existing will unless it was made expressly in contemplation of that marriage. Newlyweds with old wills usually have no will at all.
Divorce does something subtler: your will stays valid, but your former spouse is treated as if they died on the day the divorce was finalised. Gifts to them fail, and their appointment as executor falls away. The rest of the will limps on around the gap, which is rarely what anyone would design. After either event, make a new will; do not patch.
Housekeeping that prevents disasters
- When a new will is signed, destroy the old original and every copy you can find; a superseded will that surfaces at probate invites confusion and worse
- Keep codicils physically with the will they amend, unstapled, wherever the will is stored
- Update the National Will Register entry if the will’s location changes
- Diary a review every three years and after every big life event; wills go stale silently
What it costs with Willful
A solicitor-reviewed codicil costs £49 and handles the small-change cases above without touching the rest of your will. When the change is structural, a fresh solicitor-reviewed will replaces the old one cleanly. Either way the change is checked by an SRA-regulated solicitor before you sign, which is exactly the safeguard hand-amendments never had.