Executing a will is a wise and responsible decision. A will ensures that your assets will go to heirs and beneficiaries of your choosing after you pass away.
However, sometimes life circumstances change and you may want to revoke or modify your will. Marriage, divorce or a death are common reasons that a will revocation may be in order.
New Jersey law allows you to revoke or modify your will at any point before our death or incompetency. There are many ways that a will can be revoked or modified.
Formal revocation
A formal revocation involves a written document officially revoking a prior will. This document must be signed and witnessed.
This formal revocation is typically done as part of a new will, which includes a formal statement that the new will revokes all previously existing wills.
Physical revocation
A will can also be revoked physically. An act that physically destroys your will, such as tearing or burning legally revokes the will if it is accompanied by an intention to revoke the will.
If a will is physically destroyed but there is no evidence that the maker intended to revoke the will, there is a chance the will could be declared legally valid. This can happen in situations involving a lost will, such as when a will is destroyed by a house fire or natural disaster.
In that case, a copy of the will is presumed to be valid and binding even if the original was physically destroyed.
Executing a new will
The most common method of revoking a will is to execute a new will. When you are creating a new will, the formal statement that the will revokes all previously existing wills automatically revokes any prior wills.
It is important that the formal statement specifically says the will revokes all previously existing wills, rather than only your last will, since the law allows you to have only one will at a time.
Without formally revoking a will, there may be confusion over which will is valid after you pass away. This can lead to a will contest or your assets being distributed according to New Jersey intestacy laws.