• Starts from your existing will

  The first questions ask whether you have a will and when you signed it. The codicil names the will by its date, so it is clear which document is being changed.

• Five kinds of change

  Replace a beneficiary, a guardian or an executor, delete a clause, or add or change a clause. Each asks only for what it needs: the clause number, the gift, who is replaced, and the new person with their city and state.

• Several changes in one codicil

  Add another amendment for each change, up to five, each described separately.

• Confirms the rest of the will

  The codicil says that, apart from its changes, your will stays as it is.

• Signing, witnesses and a sworn statement

  The document ends with your signature, three witness blocks, a sworn statement for you and the witnesses, and a notary's certificate.

• A lawyer reviews it before it is used

  Your answers are prepared into a draft and reviewed by a qualified lawyer, rather than handed back to you as a finished form.

A codicil is a separate document that changes a will you have already signed. It is used when only a little needs to change: a person named in the will, one gift, one clause, or who carries the will out. The will stays as it is, apart from the changes the codicil makes.

This builder starts by asking whether you have a will, and when you signed it. It then asks what each change is: replacing a beneficiary, a guardian or an executor, deleting a clause, or adding or changing a clause. You can make several changes in one codicil.

A codicil needs an existing will. The draft makes no statement about how your state requires a codicil to be signed or witnessed, since that differs from state to state. A lawyer confirms it before you sign, and the draft says so rather than leaving you to assume it is complete.

Not sure? Talk to an attorney about your situation first.

These are separate documents, for different jobs.

• Last will and testamentSet out who inherits and who carries out your wishes.View document
• Pour-over willA will that passes whatever is left into your trust.View document
• Power of attorneyName someone you trust to handle your finances if you can't.View document

• After a marriage, a divorce, a birth or a death in the family
• When a beneficiary, guardian or executor can no longer act
• After selling or acquiring something the will mentions
• When you have moved to a new state and want a lawyer to check the will still fits

• Last will and testamentSet out who inherits and who carries out your wishes.View document
• Pour-over willA will that passes whatever is left into your trust.View document
• Just-in-case instructionsLeave clear instructions for whoever would need to step in.View document
• Estate-planning documentsThe documents that plan how your estate is handled.View document