Does your Will or LPA still reflect your life today?

One of the most common things I find when speaking to people about an existing Will is that they remember making it, but they do not necessarily remember what it says.

They may know roughly when it was prepared. They may remember visiting a solicitor or completing the paperwork. They might even know exactly where the original document is stored.

But when I ask who they appointed as executors, what arrangements they made for their home or who would inherit if one of their beneficiaries died before them, the answer is often less certain.

The same can happen with a Lasting Power of Attorney.

Someone may remember choosing the people they trusted to act for them, but not whether those attorneys were appointed jointly or jointly and severally. They may have forgotten that replacement attorneys were included or that particular preferences and instructions were written into the document.

That does not necessarily mean anything is wrong.

It simply means that a document prepared several years ago may no longer feel connected to the life someone is living today.

Legal documents stay still while life carries on

A Will or Lasting Power of Attorney may have been entirely appropriate when it was prepared.

The difficulty is that the document stays largely unchanged while everything around it continues to move.

People marry, separate and form new relationships. Children grow up, grandchildren arrive and family dynamics change. Homes are bought and sold. Financial circumstances develop. People who once seemed like the obvious choice to act as an executor or attorney may become older, unwell, less available or no longer closely involved.

Sometimes the change is substantial. Sometimes it is gradual.

Imagine someone who made a Will shortly after the birth of their first child. At the time, their priorities may have included appointing guardians, protecting a young family and deciding who should manage an inheritance until their child reached a particular age.

Twenty years later, that child may be an adult with a home and family of their own. There may now be other children or grandchildren to consider. The person may have moved several times, accumulated different assets and developed very different views about what they would like to happen.

The original Will may still be legally important, but it was written for an earlier version of that person’s life.

“I think it is probably still all right”

When I talk to people about reviewing their documents, I often hear some variation of:

“Nothing has changed that much, so I think it is probably still all right.”

They may be correct.

A review does not have to result in a new Will or replacement LPA. In some cases, the most useful outcome is confirmation that the existing arrangements remain suitable.

However, it can be difficult to reach that conclusion confidently without first looking at what the documents actually say.

For example, a person might still want their estate to pass to the same beneficiaries, but one of the executors named in the Will may have died or may no longer be able to take on the responsibility.

Another person may still trust the attorneys named in an LPA but have forgotten that the document requires them to make every decision together. That could create practical difficulty if one attorney is unavailable or unwilling to act.

The broad intention may remain the same while the detail underneath it no longer works quite as well.

That is why I approach reviews by looking at the documents alongside the person’s present circumstances. The question is not simply, “Is this document old?” It is, “Does this still achieve what you want it to achieve?”

What might have changed in your Will?

A Will review involves more than checking who inherits.

The executors are important because they will be responsible for dealing with the estate. Someone who seemed like a natural choice ten or fifteen years ago may no longer be the right person. Relationships change, people move away and the practical demands of the role may become more difficult with age or ill health.

Beneficiaries and gifts may also need to be reconsidered.

A gift of a particular item may no longer make sense because the item has been sold or given away. A fixed cash gift may have a very different significance from when the Will was made. A beneficiary may have died, or a new child or grandchild may now form an important part of the family.

Arrangements relating to children can also change naturally over time. Guardianship provisions that were once central may no longer be relevant once the children become adults. Trust arrangements designed for young beneficiaries may need to be understood in the context of the family as it exists today.

Property is another frequent area of uncertainty. Someone may assume their Will controls exactly what happens to their home, without considering how the property is owned or whether those arrangements have changed since the Will was prepared.

None of these issues automatically means the existing Will has failed. They are simply reasons to take it out of the drawer, read it properly and check that it still reflects the person behind it.

LPAs need reviewing for different reasons

A Lasting Power of Attorney is not a Will, and it should not be reviewed in exactly the same way.

A Will is primarily concerned with what happens after death. An LPA allows chosen attorneys to make particular decisions during the donor’s lifetime if authority or support is needed.

That makes the people named in the document especially important.

The starting point is whether the donor would still choose the same attorneys today. Trust remains essential, but so do availability, ability and willingness to take on the responsibility.

Someone may have appointed a sibling who has since developed health problems of their own. An adult child may have moved abroad. Two attorneys who were once close may now find it difficult to communicate or make decisions together.

The way the attorneys were appointed also matters.

Where attorneys are appointed jointly, they generally have to act together. Where they are appointed jointly and severally, they have greater flexibility to act together or individually. Many people do not remember which arrangement they selected or what that could mean in practice.

A review can also consider replacement attorneys and any preferences or instructions included in the document.

These sections often contain formal language, and it is not unusual for someone to look at an older LPA and realise that they cannot clearly remember why a particular instruction was included.

Again, that does not mean the document is necessarily unsuitable. It means it deserves to be understood before it is ever needed.

The conversation often matters as much as the document

From my experience of speaking with clients and families, people do not always begin a review with a clearly identified legal problem.

More often, they begin with uncertainty.

They may have found an old Will while sorting through paperwork. A conversation about an elderly parent may have prompted them to look at their LPAs. A bereavement in the family may have made them think more carefully about their own arrangements.

At community talks and in individual conversations, I often find that one question leads naturally to another.

Someone asks whether their Will is still valid, but the deeper concern is whether the person they appointed as executor is still appropriate. Someone asks whether an LPA expires, but what they really want to know is whether their attorneys would be able to work together effectively.

A useful review therefore involves more than reading clauses aloud.

It means understanding what the person intended, what has changed and whether the document still supports the life and relationships they have now.

A review does not mean starting again

There can be an understandable reluctance to have documents reviewed because people assume that doing so will lead automatically to more expense or a recommendation that everything be replaced.

That should not be the purpose.

There are several possible outcomes from a review.

The first is that the existing document remains suitable and no further action is needed.

That is a worthwhile result. It allows the person to put the document away again knowing what it says and why it continues to work.

A second possibility is that a limited change is required.

For a Will, a small and straightforward amendment may sometimes be made through a codicil. A codicil is a separate legal document that changes part of an existing Will while leaving the remainder in place.

Where several changes are needed, or where adding further documents would make the overall arrangements difficult to understand, preparing a new Will may provide a clearer result.

An LPA works differently. It cannot generally be altered simply by writing new choices into the existing document. Where the attorneys, instructions or underlying arrangements need to change, the existing LPA may need to be revoked and a replacement prepared.

The appropriate outcome depends on the documents and the circumstances. It should not be decided before the review has taken place.

Sometimes clarity is the only change needed

Not every useful review ends with new legal paperwork.

Sometimes the most important outcome is that the person finally understands what they already have.

That may mean confirming who can act, explaining what a trust provision does or clarifying how an attorney appointment works. It may identify documents that should be stored together, such as a Will, codicil and Letter of Wishes.

It may also highlight a conversation that needs to happen within the family.

An executor may not know they have been appointed. An attorney may have agreed to act several years ago but no longer remember the discussion. Family members may have made assumptions that do not match the legal arrangements actually in place.

Legal documents cannot resolve every future difficulty, but clear documents supported by clear conversations can reduce uncertainty.

When should you review your Will or LPA?

There is no single date on which every Will or LPA suddenly becomes outdated.

A review is particularly sensible when something meaningful has changed in your circumstances, relationships, property, finances or future plans.

It may also be useful when:

• You no longer remember clearly what the document contains.
• You are unsure whether the people appointed could still act.
• Your family circumstances have changed.
• You have bought, sold or changed the ownership of property.
• Someone named in the document has died or become unwell.
• Your views about inheritance, care or decision-making have changed.
• You simply want reassurance that your existing plans remain suitable.

You do not need to identify the legal solution before arranging a review.

You do not need to decide whether you require a codicil, a new Will or a replacement LPA. In many cases, you will not yet know whether any change is required at all.

That is what the review is intended to establish.

Bring the document back into the present

A Will or Lasting Power of Attorney should not be treated as a piece of paperwork that was completed once and must never be looked at again.

It records important decisions about your family, property, wishes and the people you trust. Those decisions deserve to be considered in the context of the life you have now, rather than only the life you had when the document was signed.

The document may still be entirely right.

It may require one limited change.

Or it may have reached the point where starting again would provide a clearer and more dependable result.

The important thing is to know which of those positions applies.