When to Write a Will
When is the best time to write a will? Should you wait until you are old and obviously don’t have many years left, or should you write a will when you are young and carefree? Perhaps somewhere in the middle is best, maybe? That is actually a fairly common time to write a will, though there is no reason why you should not do it earlier.
The simple truth is that there is no exact time to write a will. Leaving it too late can be a bad judgement as you simply don’t know from day to day what is going to happen. For this reason it is always better to write a will as early in life as possible after you have turned the legal age to do so.
At 18 you may not have very much to leave anyone, and you will probably not have a spouse or children either as your beneficiaries. However, a will can and should be changed to keep up with changing circumstances. If you write a will before you are married, your subsequent marriage will automatically revoke the existing will and you will have to write a new one. If you then get divorced, you will have to consider whether or not your former spouse should inherit from you.
Making changes to your will to keep up with changing circumstances can be achieved in one of two ways: by codicil where a supplement or amendment, or an addition is made to the will; or by simply making a completely new will that supersedes the old one. Updating a will is an obvious thing to do, and if several life-changing events coincide, then that may be the time to write a completely new one.
Writing a will should never be a one time task that is immediately forgotten again. Your life is not stagnant, however unexciting it may seem, or you may think it is. Your life is constantly changing and your will must reflect the changes as closely as possible if your beneficiaries are to benefit in the way you wish them to.
Of course, you must write your will while you are of sound mind. Senility is fairly common in old age, but this does not necessarily mean that a will made by a senile person will automatically be invalid.
The person making the will has to know what a will is and that they are making one. They have to understand the relationship between themselves and those who will benefit from the will. They have to know what they actually own, and they have to be able to decide who gets what.
Senility does not automatically equate with stupidity and many suffering from senility are quite capable of understanding what needs to be understood. Of course, it is always best to write a will when you are obviously of sound mind. Do it early on in your adult life and be prepared to update it, or replace it, at times when there are major changes in the circumstances of your life.
Resources:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029800
http://www.certainty.co.uk/faq-about-wills