Revoking a will means to formally cancel an existing will, rendering it legally invalid. Most people tend revoke all or part of their wills by signing a new will or codicil. To be clear, this is the preferable way to proceed. However, there are other circumstances in which revocation can arise, but they can come with complications.
Under s.20 of the Wills Act 1837, a will can be revoked by “burning, tearing or otherwise destroying the same by the testator or by some person in his presence and by his direction with the intention of revoking the same”. You will see that there are two elements:
- Physical destruction is required so, just crossing out wording or writing “revoked” will not usually be sufficient. That said, it’s possible that partial destruction may revoke only the part of the will that was actually destroyed. The test is whether the remainder of the will is intelligible and can still operate as a whole, without the destroyed part.
- In addition, there must be an intention to revoke and the Court may ask for evidence of this. Accidental destruction does not necessarily amount to revocation. If destroyed by accident, the Court will seek evidence to establish the contents of the Will, such as by a photocopy, or perhaps seeking witness statements.
However, this week, when told of his death, I learned that a client of mine accidentally revoked his will by an altogether different method.
Just before he died, my client unexpectedly married a girlfriend from his much younger days with whom he had always had a close relationship. Unfortunately, and despite this romantic (re)union, by virtue of s. 18 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 marriage or a civil partnership automatically revokes a will unless it was signed (a) in expectation of marriage/civil partnership to a particular person, and (b) when the person did not intend for their will to be revoked by that union.
In this particular case, the circumstances fail on point (a) as the idea of marriage came ‘out of the blue’, long after the will was signed. It remains to be seen if the Rules of Intestacy will direct all of the client’s assets to his new wife, as was intended, or whether a proportion will now pass to his estranged children, which was definitely not what he wished.
In short, if you are unhappy with the contents of your will, please deal with it properly by getting a will or codicil prepared by a solicitor or other appropriately qualified and insured professional.
If you would like to discuss these themes further, please do get in touch on 01273 284012 or email me on richard.bates@cognitivelaw.co.uk.