codicil
American Heritage Dictionary:
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cod·i·cil
(kŏd'ə-sĭl) 
n.
n.
- Law. A supplement or appendix to a will.
- A supplement or appendix.
[Middle English, from Old French codicille, from Latin cōdicillus, diminutive of cōdex, cōdic-, codex. See codex.]
codicillary cod'i·cil'la·ry (kŏd'ə-sĭl'ə-rē) adj.Related Videos:
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codicil
Barron's Business Dictionary:
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codicil
Supplement to a will , whose purpose is to add to, subtract from, or qualify, modify, or revoke the provisions of a prior will.
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
A document that is executed by a person who had previously made his or her will, to modify, delete, qualify, or revoke provisions contained in it.
A codicil effectuates a change in an existing will without requiring that the will be reexecuted. The maker of the codicil identifies the will that is to be changed by the date of its execution. The codicil should state that the will is affirmed except for the changes contained therein. The same formalities that are necessary for the valid execution of a will must be observed when a codicil is executed. Failure to do so renders the codicil void.
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An addendum of any kind to a will. Codicils can alter, change, add to or subtract from the provisions in the will. They can be used to keep a will and testament current and up to date.
Investopedia Says:
Codicils must be created by the original creator of the will. They are separate documents in and of themselves and can effect either minor or major changes in the will. All codicils must meet the same legal administrative requirements as the original will and testament, and they must each affirm that the original will is valid except for the changes outlined inside.
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categories related to 'codicil'
- Laws, Procedures, and Court Proceedings - codicil: amendment or addition to will
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Codicil (will)
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A codicil is a document that amends, rather than replaces, a previously executed will.[1] Amendments made by a codicil may add or revoke small provisions (e.g., changing executors), or may completely change the majority, or all, of the gifts under the will. Each codicil must conform to the same legal requirements as the original will, such as the signatures of the testator and, typically, two or three (depending on the jurisdiction) disinterested witnesses.
When confronted with testamentary writings executed after the date of the original will, a probate court may need to decipher whether the document is a codicil or a new will. As a rule of thumb, if the second document neither expressly revokes the prior will in its entirety nor supersedes it for all purposes by making a complete disposition of the testator’s property, it will be presumed to be a codicil, leaving the validity of the earlier will unchanged with respect to the property whose disposition the codicil does not address.
In some jurisdictions, acting as a witness to the execution of the codicil may invalidate a gift to a beneficiary under the original will. This rule extends such a jurisdiction's "disinterested-witnesses" requirement to those subsequent documents that might affect what a beneficiary receives from the probate process. For example, if a codicil revokes a bequest in a prior will or adds one not in the prior will, it thereby increases or decreases the value of the residuum of the estate, and it thereby affects any residuary beneficiaries' interest in the estate, such that a residuary beneficiary in a will is an interested party with respect to any codicil.
As an alternative to a codicil, a testator may modify an existing will by writing a new, dated will which revokes any previous wills and codicils. With the advent of word-processors this is now becoming recommended practice (as suggested by the international specialist body in this field, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) even for relatively minor changes to avoid the difficulties of interpretation which can arise from a chain of (possibly mutually inconsistent) codicils. Particular difficulties in interpreting chains of codicils arise in jurisdictions such as England and Wales which do not require wills or codicils to be dated (although this is common practice).
In completion of a codicil, a form must be created specifying the modifications to the existing last will and testament. As with a last will and testament, it is necessary to witness amendments to the will since they may override the relevant sections of the original will.
References
- ^ Rocchi, Rosanne (1978), Guide to Wills and Estate Planning in Canada, Toronto: Coles Publishing Company Limited, p. 14
- Dukeminier & Johanson (2005, Apr 29) Wills, trusts, and estates, Aspen Publishers, Inc.; 7th edition (April 29, 2005)
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External links
- Sample last will codicil (United States)
- Sample last will codicil (United States)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Codicil
Dansk (Danish)
n. - tillægsbestemmelse til testamente
Français (French)
n. - codicille
Deutsch (German)
n. - Kodizill, Testamentsnachtrag, Anhang
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (νομ.) κωδίκελος, παράρτημα, συμπλήρωμα
Português (Portuguese)
n. - cláusula (f) adicional
Русский (Russian)
дополнение к завещанию
Español (Spanish)
n. - codicilo
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kodicill
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
遗嘱的附录, 附录
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 遺囑的附錄, 附錄
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 遺言補足書, 追加条項, 付録
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) ملحق لوصيه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - נספח לצוואה
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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