The importance of updating wills

People in Ohio who have previously drafted a will may still need to reevaluate its provisions on a regular basis. When certain life changes occur, it may be necessary to draft a new will or amend the old one in order to incorporate new beneficiaries or to remove an existing one.

Sometimes a person will have a new child after having drafted a will. When that occurs, the prior will may need to be amended in order to add the new child as a beneficiary. As is commonly known, many people unfortunately undergo a divorce. In some cases, it may be necessary to rewrite a will entirely when a divorce occurs as the court may declare a will that provides for an ex-spouse to be invalid in its entirety or in part.

In other cases, a person may get married for the first time after they have drafted a will. In order to ensure that the entire estate will go to the spouse, the will may need to be redrafted. Finally, people may remarry after having had children by another partner. In those instances, it may be a good idea to rewrite a will to make certain the estate passes to the person’s own children rather than to the new spouse’s children and heirs upon his or her passing.

These are only a few examples of situations that may necessitate changing or modifying a will. In any case, it is a good idea for people to regularly review their wills. When a change has occurred, people may wish to meet with their estate planning attorney in order to update the will or to add a codicil to it in order to incorporate the new life circumstances. Making certain a will is current can help prevent later litigation over its provisions.