Wills

[Morley19]

Am hoping someone can help. My friend has a will drawn up, all dated, signed and witnessed. She wants to change one page of it - the split between the beneficiaries.

What is the best way to do this without incurring legal costs? Can she just type the new page up herself, with her desired gifts, and date/sign it/get it witnessed?

It is a very simple will and the estate will be minimal.

On the new/replacement page, above her signature/witness signatures and addresses should she type something like 'this page replaces page 2 of the will dated 'xxxxxx'

Many thanks

She needs to write a codicil and have it witnessed and signed

No no no no!

She can do a codicil (best via a lawyer as they have specific wording).

Or she can do a new will. If it's more or less the same, she could retype the whole thing with the new bequests and get it signed with two witnesses again. Make sure she destroys the old one.

Did she have it drawn up by a solicitor? Do they hold a copy they are storing for her that will not now be up to date?

She needs to pay for legal advice. It always gives me the willies when people ask on here how to get things done “without incurring legal costs”.

No way should she try to alter a will!
As pp have said, she needs to take legal advice. A codicil sounds like the right course of action for now if it is a will done by a solicitor.
If she has done a diy will it would be better to destroy it and any copies and start again.

If she can't afford a codicil or new will she can look up free wills, see if any local solicitors are offering this in exchange for a charity contribution

Same, and seems to be a particular issue with wills. It's not like this would even be expensive.

This is what she need to do or it may be cheaper to just rewrite.

From my experience solicitors offering to do for free for charity only do straight forward estates, if you did this is prob best to start

Start again”

imv never do yourself, one word can change the meaning if a will

I should add that I’m a solicitor with some wills and probate training. The only thing I have done myself is add a codicil to remove a specific gift from my will having got the precedent from a friend who practices in that area. My actual will was drawn up by someone properly qualified.

Probate lawyers make a steady income from the estates of people who have drawn up their own wills to avoid legal costs. The cost of fixing a badly written will vastly exceeds the cost of getting it done properly in the first place.