Is it possible to temporarily change a will?

[Lindy2]

I was hoping someone might know the answer to this.

DH and I have our wills in place. They're nothing fancy and our estate isn't complicated. Basically it's a 50/50 split between our 2 children.

For a number of reasons (mostly mental health) it would not be good for 1 of our children to have access to large sums of money. I'd like to temporarily remove her from the will until she is better able to cope.

I'm hoping it would be just a temporary thing ie perhaps only a year or 2, so we don't really want to fully redo our will or set up a trust. Is it possible to just add a change to an existing will and remove it at a later date? I'm guessing probably not.

We're both in good health and not at an age that we expect to keel over any time soon, but having both had Covid in January it has made us aware of how quickly things can potentially change.

Thank you.

You can change your will now (or write a codicil), and change it again in the future.

I don't understand. If you "temporarily" change your will today and you both drop dead tomorrow that will stays as written today, so it's permanent, not temporary.

Thank you Palavah I'll look into that.

MoonCatcher - yes I see what you mean. I guess I mean temporary as in probably just for a year or two and then hopefully we would choose a 50/50 split again. It would of course be permanent each time until changes were actually made.

So you think she might be well enough in a couple of years to manage the money better? That won't be much use if you both die in the meantime leaving her with nothing (while healthy, you could both be in a car accident for example). It's risky to take her out of the will. You should speak to a solicitor and find a way to have the money put in trust for her if the worst were to happen. But even then, who'd get to decide when she should have access to it?

Whichever is the most recent version of your will is your will, until a newer version replaces it.

So if you make a new one today which puts money for that child in a trust (which sounds like a possible good idea in your situation, as it would be hard psychologically and physically for her to be cut out entirely?) that will will be in effect until you make a new one.

You have to think of wills as “what will happen if i am hit by a bus five mins after signing it - is it what i currently intend?” Then when you have greater confidence in her ability to cope, make a new one. You can do this yourself based on your existing will (you just need two non-beneficiaries to witness your signature) or if you want advice on a trust go to a solicitor to get it drawn up, and see what it would cost to have a solicitor as trustee for the trust if you haven’t got family who could?

Why don't you put her half in trust and appoint a trustee such as one of your siblings or parents - who can confidently judge how she's coping?

Thank you everyone.

Yes, on reflection a trust would make sense and we do have relatives who we would trust to decide when she was ok to take control of any money.

I appreciate your help.

Well I'm guessing if you get hit by a bus, then them finding out they've been disinherited won't do much for their mental health.
You would do much better if you put some conditions in place.

Definitely a trust here, not leaving her out

Well yes, you can change your will as often as you like. But the will is the will, as it stands in the present moment.

You cannot play with time and write in clauses that rely upon you being alive in the future to alter things again. If you were, you'd do it then. Then you'd have a new will. It's only when you're not here, that the will becomes relevant.