If you have a will or are considering an estate plan, then you need to know about three actions that can be taken in regard to your will. You can revoke or change your will; and, if your beneficiaries or a person with a stake in your will is so inclined, they can challenge your will. These are the three actions that we will talk about today.
Revoking a will is fairly simple. You can either destroy your will or make a new one (one usually necessitates the other). You can also change a will to essentially “revoke” it. When doing this, your will becomes a “codicil.”
Changing a will is very important, as you may want to alter certain provisions or beneficiaries as life goes on and certain life events happen. For example, what if you get married? What if you have a child? What if your children have children? What if you divorce? These are all events that could drastically alter how you think about your will — and how you want to pass on your assets and property to your family.
There are also times where a will is challenged. If a person with a stake in the testator’s estate believes the testator was unduely influenced or lacked the capacity to make critical decisions about his or her will, a legal challenge could be mounted. In addition, if the existence of another will trumps the alleged “current” will, then a legal challenge could be made.
Source: FindLaw, “Revoking, Challenging or Changing a Will,” Accessed March 14, 2016
