As the creator of your will, you are eligible to change or revoke it at any time. You can revoke your will by creating a new will that overrides the old one, ordering someone else to cancel or destroy your will in front of you, destroying or canceling your will yourself, or creating a written document that says that you revoke the old will.

 Your will can be automatically revoked under special rules in Mississippi. If you did not have a child at the time you made your will but do at the time you pass away or at the time that your wife is pregnant with a child. The will is revoked unless the child dies before turning 21 or the child dies without having been married or leaving behind their own children.

If your will does get revoked under these rules, Mississippi intestacy laws apply as if you never made a will to begin with. If you need to make changes to an existing will It is recommended that you revoke it and create a new one. In the event that you only have small changes to make. You may wish to consult directly with an experienced Mississippi estate planning attorney instead.

One of the big things you want to prevent when moving forward with an amendment or an entirely new will are problems around possible will challenges. These are formal legal disputes that can erupt when one or more beneficiaries of your estate claims that the will submitted for probate is not legally valid or the proper version. This can delay probate for the entire estate.

If you need to update a previous will or if you have recently moved to MS, it’s smart to partner with an estate planning lawyer who can evaluate your current document and give you guidance about next steps. Your previous will likely needs to be revoked in order for you to create a new one.