Tip: If you execute a codicil to your Will, be sure to store it with your original Will. If the changes are extensive, you should consider revoking the old Will and writing a new one to avoid confusion when the Will is offered for probate. Writing a new Will also assures that you don’t make mistakes. Your new Will must include a statement to the effect that you “revoke all prior Wills and codicils”. This wording will protect your intentions if you forgot to destroy any originals or copies of prior Wills or codicils.

Leaving property to your children by name rather than in equal shares can make distribution very complex if you do not change the Will when subsequent children are born. If, for example, each of three children get one third of your estate, and you fail to change your Will when a fourth is born, some courts might assume that your intent was to give each child an equal share of the estate and award each 25% (unless you have a clause about intentionally not leaving anything to any children not specifically named). If, however, each child, by name, is left a different amount, the court will have no idea about your intentions for another child without further documentation.

Some Wills and Trusts are written to anticipate the possibility of additional children, thus protecting the interests of any future children. This, or similar, wording may be used:

If, subsequent to the execution of this document, there shall be an additional child or children born to me, such child or children (or issue thereof) shall share in the benefits hereunder the same as my children named herein.

This wording may work if all children share equally under the Will but not if each child is to receive specific property or unequal shares. You should always make a new Will whenever life-changing events, such as the birth of a child, occur. (See article on “When and How Should I Revise My Will?”)