When Should You Update Your Will?

You should update your will whenever your life changes in a way that affects your family, finances, or legal responsibilities—and review it every 3 to 5 years at minimum.

This article walks you through a practical checklist to assess your will at the start of the year. You’ll learn what personal and financial events trigger legal updates, how to revise your documents correctly, and what risks you avoid by staying proactive.

What life events require updating your will?

Any major shift in your personal or financial life is a signal to update your will.

Getting married, divorced, having children, adopting, receiving an inheritance, or selling a business—each one changes the assumptions behind your current estate plan. If you’ve named someone as a guardian or beneficiary who is no longer in your life, or added new people to your family, your will must reflect that immediately.

If you don’t act, assets may pass to outdated heirs or face legal disputes. This is not theoretical—it happens often when beneficiaries or executors aren’t updated, especially after family changes. Keep a detailed record of these milestones so you can flag them for your next review.

How often should you review your will?

Even if your life feels stable, you should formally review your will every three to five years.

This isn’t about rewriting—it’s about confirming accuracy. Laws shift, estate tax thresholds change, and financial institutions may revise how they handle digital assets or trusts. A simple legal shift could make a clause obsolete without you realizing it.

Annual or biennial check-ins are ideal if your estate is complex. But as a baseline, five years is the absolute maximum you should go without a detailed review alongside your advisor.

Should you update your will after receiving an inheritance?

Yes. A new inheritance changes your estate structure and introduces risk if you don’t assign it properly.

You may intend to pass it along to specific people—or retain it as part of your general estate. Either way, you must document how it’s allocated, who receives it, and whether it goes into a trust. Leaving it unaddressed creates gaps your executor cannot fill after your death.

Large inherited assets also affect how your own estate will be taxed. That requires a review of tax clauses, charitable bequests, and asset-specific instructions.

Do you need to update your will after a divorce?

Absolutely. Divorce is one of the most common—and most overlooked—reasons to revise a will.

In some states, your ex-spouse is automatically removed from the document. In others, they’re not. If you don’t revise your executor, power of attorney, or primary beneficiaries, they could still hold legal power over your estate. That’s not a risk you want to leave to probate.

You should also consider any children or financial obligations that remain. If your will doesn’t match your custody and support arrangements, legal conflicts can arise for guardians and beneficiaries.

Should you revise your will when you move to a new state?

Yes. State-specific estate laws can invalidate or override parts of your current will.

Each state defines will execution, probate procedures, marital property rights, and digital asset access differently. Some also have separate estate or inheritance taxes that your old plan doesn’t account for.

When you relocate, especially if you retire across state lines or move for work, your first legal task should be to revalidate your estate documents under your new jurisdiction.

How do you legally update a will?

You can revise a will by either adding a codicil or drafting a completely new document.

A codicil is a legally binding amendment that changes a section of your existing will. It must be signed, dated, and witnessed under the same formalities as the original. It’s best used for small updates—like changing an executor, adding a gift, or removing one beneficiary.

When updates are significant—more than two changes or changes to structure—it’s cleaner to draft a new will. You’ll revoke the old one and sign the updated version in its place.

What happens if you don’t update your will?

An outdated will can cause your estate to fall into conflict, delay, and unintended distribution.

If your listed executor has passed, if your beneficiaries are no longer current, or if your instructions conflict with new assets or tax law, courts will make decisions on your behalf. That undermines your intent and increases stress on your family during probate.

Even more problematic: if you die without a legally valid plan, default intestacy laws take over. That means your estate might go to distant relatives or face higher taxes—outcomes you can easily avoid with regular updates.

When You Must Update Your Will

After marriage, divorce, or remarriage
When a child is born or adopted
Upon receiving an inheritance
After moving to a new state
Following changes in tax law or estate structure
If your executor or beneficiaries die or change
Every 3–5 years even without major events