CA Will Update: Essential How-To

Short answer: Yes. You can change a California will as often as you like while you’re 18 or older and of sound mind (Prob. Code §6100). Use a codicil for a narrow change or sign a new will that revokes the old one, and either document must be signed and witnessed like a will (Prob. Code §88, §6110). Crossing out lines or telling family what you want doesn’t add anything to a will.

A will is only as good as its last valid version. When your family or your assets change and the document doesn’t, California law fills the gap with rules that may not match what you’d choose.

Law verified against Probate Code §§88, 5040, 6100, 6100.5, 6110 to 6112, 6120 to 6124, 21610, 21611, 21620 and 21621, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

Who can change a will

Anyone 18 or older who is of sound mind may make a will (Prob. Code §6100(a)), and the same capacity is needed to change one, since a codicil is itself a will (Prob. Code §88). Capacity has a specific legal meaning. You must be able to understand the nature of the act, recall the nature and situation of your property, and remember and understand your relationships to your descendants, spouse and parents and others affected by the will (Prob. Code §6100.5(a)(1)).

If a parent’s memory is slipping, update the will sooner. A change signed after capacity is gone invites a contest. My article on signing a will with dementia covers that line.

Codicil or new will?

California defines “will” to include a codicil (Prob. Code §88). A codicil amends specific provisions and leaves the rest of the original in place. It works for a narrow change: adding a grandchild, adjusting one gift, or replacing a successor executor. See the codicil glossary entry for the basics.

A new will is cleaner for anything broader. A later will revokes an earlier one expressly or to the extent it’s inconsistent (Prob. Code §6120(a)). I draft new wills with an express revocation of all prior wills and codicils, so nobody has to argue later about which provisions survived. A stack of codicils that refer to each other and to the original gives your family more to misread.

	Codicil	New will
What it does	Amends specific provisions and leaves the rest of the original in place	Revokes earlier wills expressly or to the extent they’re inconsistent (Prob. Code § 6120(a))
Best for	A narrow change: adding a grandchild, adjusting one gift, replacing a successor executor	Anything broader
Signing	Must be signed and witnessed like a will (Prob. Code §§ 88, 6110)	Same
Main risk	Several codicils that refer to each other give your family more to misread	A new will that never expressly revokes the old one leaves arguments about what survives

The signing rules for any change

A typed codicil or new will must be in writing, signed by you (or by someone else in your name, in your presence and at your direction), and signed during your lifetime by at least two witnesses who were present at the same time and who understood the document was your will (Prob. Code §6110(b), (c)(1)). If the formalities weren’t met, the document can still be admitted only if its proponent proves by clear and convincing evidence that you intended it as your will (Prob. Code §6110(c)(2)). That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, so sign it correctly the first time.

Use witnesses who take nothing under the will. A gift to a witness isn’t automatically void, but unless there are two other disinterested witnesses, it creates a presumption that the witness procured the gift by duress, menace, fraud or undue influence (Prob. Code §6112(c)).

A handwritten change can be valid as a holographic will if the signature and the material provisions are in your handwriting (Prob. Code §6111(a)). If it’s undated and conflicts with another will, it can fail to the extent of the inconsistency unless it’s shown to be the later document (Prob. Code §6111(b)(1)). My article on handwritten wills goes further. For the full execution checklist, see how to make a valid will in California.

How to revoke a will

A will, or any part of it, is revoked by a later will that says so or is inconsistent with it, or by being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated or destroyed with the intent to revoke it, by you or by someone in your presence and at your direction (Prob. Code §6120). Destroying one duplicate original with that intent revokes the will (Prob. Code §6121).

Striking through a gift with intent to revoke can cancel that part. It can’t add a new gift or a new beneficiary. Anything new has to be executed as a will under §6110 or qualify as a holographic will under §6111.

Revoking a new will doesn’t bring back the old one. If a second will that revoked the first is later destroyed, the first stays revoked unless the circumstances or your declarations show you meant it to take effect (Prob. Code §6123(a)). And if your original was last in your possession and can’t be found after your death, the law presumes you destroyed it to revoke it (Prob. Code §6124). Keep the signed original somewhere your executor can find it. If it’s already missing, read what to do when the original will can’t be found.

Life events that should trigger an update

• Divorce. A dissolution or annulment automatically revokes gifts to the former spouse and any nomination of the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator or guardian, unless the will says otherwise (Prob. Code §6122(a)). A legal separation doesn’t (Prob. Code §6122(d)). More in does divorce revoke a will or trust.
• Marriage. A spouse you married after signing all your testamentary instruments, and who isn’t provided for, can take your half of the community and quasi-community property plus an intestate share of your separate property, capped at half of it (Prob. Code §21610). The share is blocked if the omission was intentional and appears in the documents, you provided for the spouse outside the will in lieu of a gift, or the spouse validly waived (Prob. Code §21611).
• A new child. A child born or adopted after all your testamentary instruments were signed, and not provided for, takes an intestate share (Prob. Code §21620), subject to the exceptions in §21621.
• A death. If a beneficiary or your named executor dies, the backup plan in your will takes over. Check that one exists.
• Changes in what you own. A business sale, an inheritance, or moving your house into a trust can make specific gifts stale.

Other than divorce, annulment, or the end of a registered domestic partnership, no change in circumstances revokes a will (Prob. Code §6122(e)). Everything else requires you to act.

Assets your will doesn’t control

Joint tenancy property, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, life insurance and retirement accounts pass to whoever is named on them, not under your will. Update those designations whenever you update your will. California does make a revocable nonprobate transfer to a former spouse fail if you’re divorced at death (Prob. Code §5040(a)) but that rule has exceptions (Prob. Code §5040(b)), so don’t count on it. See which wins, the will or the beneficiary designation.

Should I use a DIY form or an attorney?

A form can work if you execute it as §6110 requires and it doesn’t conflict with what came before. The risk is in the leftovers: a codicil that contradicts an earlier codicil, or a new will that never expressly revokes the old one. A wills attorney drafting the change can confirm what’s revoked and what survives.

If you have a living trust, most changes go in the trust instead. See can I change my trust after I make it. I handle updates remotely by phone and Zoom, and the signing happens with witnesses and, for trust documents, a mobile notary who comes to you.

What to do now

Pull your will and every codicil. List what has changed in your family and your assets since you signed. Then talk to an estate planning attorney about whether a codicil, a new will, or a trust fits the changes.