3 / 12    

Financial Jargon Your Adviser May Throw at You

There’s no code to this sometimes critical element of estate planning. Codicil is the name for the legal document used to make changes to a previously existing will. It must be executed with the same legal requirements, such as witnesses.

The alternative to a codicil is a new will. The term and concept can come up in probate (court-supervised) proceedings, where there are questions about the validity and/or chronological status of rival documents.