Legal Tip 377: Do you Need to Update a Will When you Change Address or Name?

Some clients ask me if it is necessary to update wills to reflect their new names and new addresses as they move house.


Example

Lisa Simpson lives at 123 Smith Street when she does her will.

Weeks later she marries and changes her name to Lisa Flanders and moves to 125 Jones Street.

Her will has the old details should she get it changed to reflect her new name and address?

It is not necessary to do so as she is still the same person, and the will was correct at that point in time. In the future the executor of the will should be able to trace it back to Lisa. It wouldn’t hurt to update it though and where there could be some confusion it might be a good idea.

The same thing would apply to other documents such as trust deeds and contracts, but these generally cannot be changed even if you wanted to.

 

Sorry Terry, you are fundamentally wrong here.

Once married, Lisa Simpson would be Lisa van Houten.

 

Hi Terry,
When should you update a will?
Ours just has % each child will get. I'm thinking this could now be problematic seeing we have property and money invested elsewhere.
Also Super (which we have allocated) within the fund.
So the % in the will will disregard Super?

 

I was led to believe that the old (pre-marital) will would be invalid unless it was made in anticipation of the impending marriage.

Changing address would have no impact (in isolation).

 

Ah yes a bit of a bad example as marriage could invalidate a will in full or part. But the general gist is a change of name won't matter.

 

If you are a director of a company or a shareholder you need to notify ASIC of your address change. So if you have say, a corporate trustee of your smsf (among other things) your estate plan needs updating and changes - but not your will.

 

You should review the will yearly and see if it still meets your needs i think. Also after significant events such as deaths of others, births, acquisitions etc.

If your super ends up in the estate then it would pass via your will, if not then it won't/

 

lmao

 

Nominations with a fund can be defective or expire and if they do its important the will does cater for that alterative outcome that the fund will pay the death benefits to an estate when that wasnt contemplated. . A will cannot otherwise deal with super other than when the fund instructions are to pay the super to the estate. Then the will should be drafted on that basis. In the event of all dispute a trustee may pay super to an estate. Worst of all the instructions to the fund are unclear and the trustee pays it in another way...eg Pays 50% each to two adult kids when one had died. The kids of the deceased for example may be bypassed.

Always revisit super nominations at the same time as wills. Many expire each three years. Some sooner if the fund rules prescribe a shorter period (SIS Reg 6.17A) SMSFs are a wierd beast and many smsf deeds incorrectly duplicate the SIS Regs and impose 3 years but a SMSF otherwise has no 3 year time limit on binding noms - IF they can be found by someone to be trusted. Some super funds have non-lapsing nominations but they can have vulnerabilities. A recent case the trustee refused it. Why ? It wasnt dated. They hadnt checked until the member died. Some non lapsing terms are untested in law and could see a challenge to the trust deed.

Because of the three year rule a safe period to review wills is annually or each second year.

 

Thank you. Great points. Super nominations are up to date. Will contact Terry regarding updating our wills.