How to revoke a will

The law in England and Wales allows for certain ways a testator (you, the person writing your will) can revoke a will, whatever your reasons:

Make a new will that cancels out your old one

This is perhaps the simplest way of revoking a will, and is the best option if you’ve been through any major life changes.

When you write a new will it’s likely to contain an ‘express revocation clause’ - a statement that says the new will cancels out any old ones. This is to avoid any confusion that could come from having several wills active at the same time. 

If there’s no revocation clause, and if the new will is not consistent with your old one, the old one is still valid. 

Intentionally destroy your original will

Whether you tear it up, put it through a paper shredder or burn it, the important thing for legal purposes is that you intend to destroy it. If you damage or destroy it by mistake, the law will not accept that you meant to revoke it.

To make your intentions clear, you can write and sign a statement saying that you’re deliberately destroying your will in order to revoke it. It’s also worth deleting any digital copies and destroying printed photocopies if you have them. 

If you’re storing your will with a solicitor, be aware that most will not destroy a will on your behalf  - they’ll give you back the original so that you can destroy it yourself.

It’s common to want to revoke a will when your life circumstances change

This could be because you:

• no longer own the possessions you listed in your will;

• have gained new belongings and want to include them;

• want to remove beneficiaries (people who inherit your possessions) or add new ones;

• need to change the person you’ve named as executor;

• have changed your mind about funeral wishes that you’ve written in your will.

Marriage and civil partnership automatically revoke any will you made before

Unless you specifically state in your will that you’re writing it in anticipation of your marriage. You can make this clear by including the words ‘in anticipation of marriage to [name]’ in the will.

Any will you wrote before you got married that does not state its link to the marriage will no longer be valid. So you should write a new one as soon as possible. If you do not, the rules of intestacy will come into play when you die, to decide how to distribute your possessions.

It’s a good idea to review it every two years 

This is to make sure that your will reflects any changes in your circumstances. This includes things like:

• You have a new child

• You get engaged, married or divorced

• You move house

• You buy or sell any property

• You inherit money or property 

• One of your executors, beneficiaries or guardians dies

• Inheritance tax legislation or the law governing wills changes

If you write your will with Farewill, you can make as many updates as you need for just £10 a year

When you write your will with Farewill, you'll see the option to make unlimited updates to your will for just £10 a year. You can log back in at any time, navigate to the section you want to update and make your changes. Then, when you’re done, click the button on the summary page to send your will for checking.

After our specialists have approved your updates, you’ll need to print and sign your updated will with two witnesses before putting it away somewhere safe. 

To avoid any confusion for your executors after your death, it’s also important that you destroy your old will. You can do this by shredding it, tearing it up or burning it, and deleting any digital copies.

A codicil is a legal document that allows you to amend an existing will

It alters part of your existing will but leaves the rest of it intact. At Farewill we do not write codicils - instead, you can make unlimited updates to your will for just £10 a year. 

But traditional will-writing services may use codicils to add, delete or tweak something in your will. You might write a codicil when one of your beneficiaries dies, for example.

Codicils are separate to the will itself and you’ll need to store them alongside your will. This helps to make sure your executors are aware of any changes you’ve made when sorting out your estate. 

If a codicil makes drastic changes to a will, the court may get involved to help oversee the handling of your estate. This is more likely if there are multiple codicils to the original will. 

If the changes you want to make involve more than 10% of your estate, it’s best to make a new will.