Codicil to a will

Grandad99

My wife and I have mirror wills and  need to make a minor alteration to reflect the financial positions of our 4 daughters.  2 have always been comfortable financially, the other 2 less so.  Our current wills apportion the entire estate after the death of the last of us 30% to 2 of them and 20% to the other 2 

The financial gap has grown and we want to change the proportions to 40% and 10%. We have discussed this with the "losers" and they are quite happy about it.  

I have looked at the various forum posts about codicils and can't see  using one for this alteration would create any of the problems mentioned.

I see that a codicil should not be attached to a will  - is it OK for it to be kept in the same envelope along with the Power of Attorney and other documents?

Emmia

Why don't you just re-do your wills to reflect the new percentages? Should be straightforward if they are otherwise identical in content.

SeniorSam

To remake your Wills is far more costly that a Codicil, My Wife and I made a Codicil with our solicitors earlier this year and the solicitor was most helpful when I gave him my draft in that an additional wording was necessary. Do not attempt this yourself and make sure that you also add a letter of wishes that clearly states you have discussed the split with your children and they are all in agreement.  Once the Codicil has been completed, the solicitor will attach it to your Wills.

Keep_pedalling

SeniorSam said:

To remake your Wills is far more costly that a Codicil, My Wife and I made a Codicil with our solicitors earlier this year and the solicitor was most helpful when I gave him my draft in that an additional wording was necessary. Do not attempt this yourself and make sure that you also add a letter of wishes that clearly states you have discussed the split with your children and they are all in agreement.  Once the Codicil has been completed, the solicitor will attach it to your Wills.

If you use the same solicitor it should not be more expensive, there is no more work involved and should actually be easier to amend the original document unless they are very old wills with no digital copies.

relaxtwotribes

Do what Emmia says.  Why employ solicitors unnecessarily.  And never,ever, ever attach anything to a will; not by paper clip and certainly not by staple.

Emmia

relaxtwotribes said:

Do what Emmia says.  Why employ solicitors unnecessarily.  And never,ever, ever attach anything to a will; not by paper clip and certainly not by staple.

This is absolutely my concern, what if the codecil becomes separated from the will, or your children who have "agreed to have less" challenge it, and want their original shares set out in the will it's attached to?

My will cost me £250 in London 18 months ago, and as you should have a solicitor to draft the codecil, the cost of that vs a fresh will may work out very similar cost wise.

Pennylane

Keep_pedalling said:

SeniorSam said:

To remake your Wills is far more costly that a Codicil, My Wife and I made a Codicil with our solicitors earlier this year and the solicitor was most helpful when I gave him my draft in that an additional wording was necessary. Do not attempt this yourself and make sure that you also add a letter of wishes that clearly states you have discussed the split with your children and they are all in agreement.  Once the Codicil has been completed, the solicitor will attach it to your Wills.

If you use the same solicitor it should not be more expensive, there is no more work involved and should actually be easier to amend the original document unless they are very old wills with no digital copies.

The solicitor we used told us it was easier and cheaper to add a codicil rather than writing a new will. 

Grandad99

Thinking outside the box.  Both wills are in our possession and the only difference between them and new ones would be the different percentage figures.  I could type new ones, copying the originals word for word apart from the percentages and get them properly witnessed.

Is this a feasible option? 

relaxtwotribes

Yes.  Properly witnessed.

Emmia

Grandad99 said:

Thinking outside the box.  Both wills are in our possession and the only difference between them and new ones would be the different percentage figures.  I could type new ones, copying the originals word for word apart from the percentages and get them properly witnessed.

Is this a feasible option? 

Are they also stored by your solicitor, or with the government wills deposit place? If you write and witness it properly yourself the solicitor won't take it (if they write it an make an error, they have insurance, but that won't cover your version) so I'd deposit it with the HMCTS service, so it is clear there is a new will.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

Mojisola

Emmia said:

Grandad99 said:

Thinking outside the box.  Both wills are in our possession and the only difference between them and new ones would be the different percentage figures.  I could type new ones, copying the originals word for word apart from the percentages and get them properly witnessed.

Is this a feasible option? 

Are they also stored by your solicitor, or with the government wills deposit place? If you write and witness it properly yourself the solicitor won't take it (if they write it an make an error, they have insurance, but that won't cover your version) so I'd deposit it with the HMCTS service, so it is clear there is a new will.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/store-a-will-with-the-probate-service

And when you've made the new will, get the old one from the solicitor and destroy it.