Updating Your Will: The 9 Life Events That Require a Rewrite

A will is a snapshot of your wishes on the day you sign it. Life keeps moving. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, moves, new businesses, and new tax laws can all turn a perfectly drafted will into a legal time bomb. The most common cause of will disputes isn't a bad will — it's an out-of-date one. Here are the nine life events that should send you back to the document immediately.

1. Marriage

In most states, marriage automatically revokes any prior will unless the will was made in contemplation of that marriage. Even where it doesn't fully revoke, the new spouse acquires elective share rights — typically 30–50 percent of the estate — that override the will's distributions to others.

If you marry and don't update your will, your new spouse will likely take a large portion of the estate by operation of law, potentially disinheriting children from a prior relationship you intended to provide for. The fix: a new will (and, for blended families, often a trust) signed within the first 90 days of the marriage.

2. Divorce

The mirror image of marriage. In most states, divorce automatically revokes provisions in favor of an ex-spouse — they are treated as having predeceased the testator. But provisions in favor of the ex-spouse's relatives (your former in-laws) may still stand. And critically, beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance are not automatically revoked by divorce. Those have to be updated separately, in writing, with each institution.

The first call after a divorce decree should be to a financial advisor to walk through every beneficiary form. The second should be to update the will, the powers of attorney, and the healthcare directive — all of which probably still name the ex-spouse.

3. Birth or adoption of a child

A new child triggers two updates. First, name a guardian. This is the single most important reason for parents to have a will — without it, a court picks the guardian, and the court's pick may not be yours. Second, the child needs to be added to bequests, and you should consider whether to leave their share in trust until they reach an age you're comfortable with (often 25 or 30, not 18).

If a child predeceases you but leaves grandchildren, most states default to "per stirpes" — the deceased child's share is split among their children. Confirm this matches your wishes; some testators prefer "per capita," which divides equally among all surviving descendants.

4. Death of a beneficiary, executor, or guardian

If anyone named in your will dies, update the document. Specifically:

• A deceased beneficiary's share usually passes to their descendants (per stirpes) — confirm that's what you want.
• A deceased executor means the backup takes over. If you didn't name a backup, the court appoints. Always name a backup; if the backup is now your only option, add a new backup.
• A deceased guardian for minor children means the court will choose if your primary is unavailable. Replace immediately.

5. Moving to a new state

State laws on wills are not uniform. A will valid in the state where you signed it is generally recognized in your new state — but state-specific provisions like community property, elective share, and self-proving affidavit requirements differ enough that the will should be reviewed by an attorney in the new state.

Critical examples: moving from a common-law state to a community property state (California, Texas, Arizona, etc.) changes how marital assets are characterized. Moving from California to Texas means your will may be missing a self-proving affidavit, which Texas wills almost always include. Our state-by-state will requirements page lists each state's specifics.

6. Significant change in assets

If your net worth crosses a state estate tax threshold (Oregon's $1 million, Massachusetts's $2 million, etc.), update your plan. If you sell a business or inherit money, update your plan. If you acquire real estate in another state, update your plan — out-of-state real estate triggers ancillary probate unless held in a trust.

Conversely, if a major asset has been sold or significantly diminished, the will may still contain a specific bequest of that asset, which will fail (legally, "adeem") and may inadvertently change the relative shares of your beneficiaries.

7. Family rupture

If a relationship has fundamentally broken — an estranged child, a sibling you no longer trust, a falling-out with a friend who was named executor — update the document. Wills written during a happier period that still leave significant assets or fiduciary roles to estranged parties produce some of the ugliest contested probates.

If you're disinheriting a close relative, do it explicitly — name them and state that they are not to receive anything. Silence creates ambiguity that can be argued as oversight. Per the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, explicit disinheritance is far harder to contest than implicit omission.

8. New business interests

Starting a business, buying into a partnership, or acquiring closely held stock means the estate plan needs to address business succession. Will the business continue under family management? Be sold? Bought out by partners under a buy-sell agreement? Without explicit planning, the business may end up frozen in probate, deteriorating in value while the family waits.

A revocable trust funded with business interests, paired with a buy-sell agreement among partners, is the standard structure. Discuss with both an estate attorney and the business's CPA.

9. Tax law changes

The federal estate tax exemption is scheduled to roughly halve in 2026 absent congressional action. State estate tax thresholds change. Step-up basis rules have been politically contested for years. Major federal tax legislation should trigger a will review even if your personal life hasn't changed. See our estate tax explainer for current thresholds.

How to actually update a will

There are two ways:

• **Codicil:** an amendment that modifies specific provisions of the existing will. Must be signed with the same formalities as a will (witnesses, in most cases). Useful for small changes (changing one executor, adding one bequest).
• **New will:** a complete replacement that revokes all prior wills. The cleaner option for most updates — codicils that have to be read alongside the original can introduce ambiguity, and a stack of codicils invites challenge.

For most updates, draft a new will, sign it with witnesses, and physically destroy the old original. Tell your executor where the new one is.

What about handwritten changes?

Don't. Writing on the original will after signing — crossing out a name, adding a bequest in the margin — invalidates the change in most states and may invalidate the entire will. Some states recognize holographic (handwritten) wills as standalone documents, but interlineations on a typed will are dangerous. Always make changes through a new signed document.

The annual review

The cleanest discipline is an annual estate plan review — same week every year (often around tax filing). Walk through the will, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, and asset list. Most years, nothing changes. The year something does, you'll catch it.

VoiceWill™'s voice intake makes updates simple — re-run the intake any time, and we'll regenerate the documents with the updated answers. Your family vault keeps the current version and timestamps every change, so your executor always knows which version is the latest.

The bottom line

A will from ten years ago is probably wrong. The triggers are predictable: marriage, divorce, kids, deaths, moves, money, family ruptures, businesses, tax changes. After any of them, give the document an hour of attention. The cost of an update is negligible compared to the cost of probate fighting over which version of "Dad's wishes" was current.