Welcome to our Codicil information page.
From this page you can:
Order a Free Codicil Fact Sheet by clicking here
Order a Codcil Kit or Forms by following this link
Or read on for a very brief outline of what a Codicil is and how its use might be of benefit to you.
For more information we recommend you send for one of our free Codicil Fact Sheets.
Codicils are extremely important and useful documents.
A Codicil is an addition to an existing Will that has been properly executed (signed and witnessed). It does not replace that Will and
cannot be used unless there is a properly executed Will in existance.
A Codicil must be executed in the same manner as a Will.
There are all sorts of circumstances in which one might want to make a minor
alteration to a Will and a Codicil is an ideal way of doing the job without
completely re-writing your Will. A few examples are below.
- An alteration to the amount of a cash gift or other legacy.
- A change of address of a property you are gifting.
- A change of appointment of an executor, trustee or guardian.
- The insertion of a new specific gift.
- Some but not all other minor changes.
It is difficult to say just when you should write a new Will rather than
use a Codicil but there does come a point at which the changes to a person's
wishes are beyond "minor".
If, for example, all the changes listed above
had to be made a new Will should be written and the previous Will torn up.
What Are the advantages of using a Codicil?
First and foremost writing a Codicil means a saving in time, cost and complexity
for you.
Imagine that you have an existing Will and, as is very common, one item you were going
to leave to a friend no longer exists. It might be a car or a painting you have sold.
You still want to benefit your friend but it seems ridiculous to completely re-write your
will just to accomplish a small change. this is where a Codicil is so useful.
In short it would allow you to leave your exisiting Will as written but to amend
the gift for your friend in a few short sentences. You benefit from time and cost
saved and the peace of mind of knowing that your friend will benefit as you intended.
Here's another - in you Will you nominated a couple you trusted as Guardians for your children should
you die but, for whatever reasons, their circumstances are so altered that they are now unable
to take that on the responsibility. using a Codicil you can alter your original
instruction without re-writing your Will.
The cost of the exercise is minimal - not much more than a movie ticket and the
savings can run into hundreds.
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