How Often Should You Update Your Will?

Some services push an annual "renew your will" reminder — sign again, pay again, every 12 months, whether anything in your life has actually changed or not. That's not how South African law works, and it's not how your will should work either. The real trigger isn't the calendar. It's specific life events.

Events That Should Trigger an Update

• Marriage — and this one matters more than people realise: marriage automatically revokes a previous will in South Africa, unless that will was specifically made in anticipation of the marriage. If you married after writing a will and never updated it, you may legally have no will at all.
• Divorce — does not revoke your will, but it does invalidate any bequest to your former spouse (unless the will says otherwise). Everything else in the will remains in force, which can produce strange results if you don't update it.
• A new child (birth or adoption) — especially if your will names children individually rather than "my children collectively."
• Buying property, starting a business, or acquiring crypto — new significant assets should be specifically addressed, particularly digital assets (see our guide to including crypto in your will).
• Death of a named beneficiary or executor — your will should always name an alternate, but if one wasn't named, this is an urgent update.
• A relationship ending (unmarried partners) — since there's no automatic revocation the way marriage/divorce trigger, an outdated will can leave an ex-partner still named as beneficiary.
• Emigration or a move — cross-border estates can involve additional complexity; at minimum, confirm your will and asset locations are still aligned.

Why "Once a Year, Whether You Need It or Not" Doesn't Make Sense

If nothing in your life has changed, redoing your will annually adds friction (and, on subscription-based platforms, cost) without adding protection. What actually matters is catching the moments when something did change — and updating promptly, not waiting for a renewal email.

How urWill Handles This

Every update you make creates a new, blockchain-verified version, chained to the one before it — a full, tamper-evident history of your will, not a single static document that goes stale. There's no annual fee, no renewal prompt, and no limit on how many times you update. Update when your life changes; skip the years when it doesn't.

A Simple Rule

If you've had a wedding, a divorce, a baby, a funeral, a new house, or a big financial change since you last looked at your will — that's your trigger. Everything else can wait. Update your will online — free, any time.