How do I update my will?
At times, circumstances in our lives may change. This can be due to the birth of a new child, change in guardian, divorce, significant change of assets (for example, the purchase of life insurance, new home, inheritance, or perhaps you gave a large gift to a family member or charity, etc.), change of personal representative, you want to leave your guardian some new parenting instructions or it may be another situation where your present will NOW does not cover everything that you believe it should, but for the most part, it is still factual.
If the changes you want to make are NOT lengthy or complicated, a codicil is less costly than drafting a new will. It is important to remember that a codicil cannot stand by itself and is not legally binding unless attached and related to a current, signed and witnessed will. A codicil is only the appropriate choice if you can alter your present will by simply adding a paragraph or two, which does not affect the provisions set forth in the rest of your underlying estate planning documents. If that is true and the change is minor, then drafting a codicil might be a good option.
However, a new will is preferable when; you want to make numerous changes, the change you now want to make might effect other provisions of your will, you want to avoid confusion and/or the risk of loosing the separate codicil page sometime in the future.
As to cost, it is impossible to answer this question without more information. Many times my clients have indicated a desire to do “just one thing”. Then either in the office consultation or subsequent telephone conversations there was “just one more thing”. Then “and another thing” and after a while there were a fair number of items to review and include in the final document. I promise, after we chat, I will have a better idea of how much time it will take for me to do the drafting and we can discuss what other options are available to make sure your documents accurately reflect your current wishes and concerns.