Ensure your will is up to date

The start of a New Year is a great time to get your affairs in order, but making sure your will is up to date and still relevant is one priority that is often overlooked.

Leading veterinary charity PDSA has developed a plain English guide to amending an existing will, making it a less daunting task.

PDSA Head of Legacies, Tina Norton-Tuck, says: “Individual circumstances do change so it is always advisable to review your will from time to time to ensure it still reflects your wishes.

“However, updating your will needn’t mean re-writing it from scratch. A codicil is a document that can be easily added if, for example, you want to add a new instruction to leave a gift to a family member or charity of your choice.”

The PDSA Codicil pack outlines the procedures that need to be followed to ensure the change is legally sound and encloses a blank form to complete.

“Gifts that PDSA receives from wills are extremely important to the charity’s work of providing free veterinary treatment to the sick and injured pets of people in need, as two out of every three pets treated are funded in this way,” continues Tina. “PDSA’s services cost more than £48million each year, so we rely on the kind people who chose to remember PDSA in this way.”

For further details on making or amending a will or to download a codicil form, go to www.pdsa.org.uk/codicil or phone the Legacy Team on 0800 591248.

This year PDSA will provide more than 1.8 million free treatments to sick and injured pets. The charity receives no government or lottery funding for its PetAid services and relies entirely on the generosity of the public. For more information about PDSA, please visit www.pdsa.org.uk