Creating a will is one of the most important things you can do in life. You don’t want to go through life, especially if you reach various milestones, without the legal protection of a will. Furthermore, a will should be updated when you get a job, get married, have children, have grandchildren, get divorced, when other important elements of your family change and when someone close to you in life dies.
Your will should be reviewed every couple of years to make sure the people named in it are still in your life. This is important in two ways: (1) that you still want to bequeath assets to these individuals and (2) that the people you named are still alive.
Should an heir or other beneficiary named in your will pass away before you, it is important to update the will as soon as possible. Should you fail to update the will before you pass away, anything that you left to them could wind up in a state of flux.
The death of an heir or beneficiary does not have to include your children or your spouse. It can be anyone you named in your will. If you have a close relationship with a lifelong friend and you named this person in your will, you need to update the document if they die before you.
In summary, updating your will is just as important as creating one. A will should be amended each time you reach a milestone in life. This helps prevent any issues from cropping up should you become incapacitated or pass away.
