How Do You Update a Will in New Jersey, and Can You Do It Yourself?

The short answer: New Jersey law allows a will to be changed in only three ways, all of them formal. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-16, “no devise in, or clause of a will may be altered, except by another will or codicil or other writing declaring the alteration executed in the manner in which wills are required by law to be executed.” That means a signed writing with two witnesses. You can do that yourself, in the sense that no law requires a lawyer, but crossing out a paragraph, writing a new name in the margin, or stapling a typed note to the back does not change the will and may revoke part of it. For most people, the right way to update a will today is to sign a new one.

This article explains the three valid methods, why the informal ones fail, what New Jersey law changes automatically when you divorce, how the rules differ in New York and Connecticut, and which life events should send you back to the document.

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What Does It Take to Sign a Valid Will in New Jersey?

Because any change must meet the same standard as the original, start with the standard. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2, a will must be in writing, signed by the testator or by someone else in the testator’s conscious presence and at the testator’s direction, and signed by at least two witnesses, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after witnessing either the testator’s signature or the testator’s acknowledgment of the signature or of the will. The witnesses do not have to sign at the same moment or in each other’s presence, and New Jersey does not require a notary for validity.

A notary matters for a different reason. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-4, a will can be made “self-proved” at signing by having the testator and witnesses sign sworn affidavits before a notary or other authorized officer, in the statutory form. A self-proved will is admitted to probate by the Surrogate without tracking down the witnesses years later. Nearly every will a New Jersey lawyer prepares is self-proved, and a will updated at home usually is not, which is one practical cost of doing it yourself.

New Jersey also recognizes a handwritten will. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-2(b), a document that fails the witness requirement “is valid as a writing intended as a will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting.” And under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-3, a document that fails the formalities altogether can still be given effect if the person offering it proves “by clear and convincing evidence” that the decedent intended it as a will, a revocation, an alteration, or a revival. These provisions rescue some do-it-yourself documents. They do so only after litigation, at the estate’s expense, with the outcome depending on what a judge concludes about the decedent’s intent from the paper and the testimony. They are safety nets, not methods.

What Are the Three Valid Ways to Change a Will?

A new will. The cleanest method. The new document restates everything, revokes all prior wills expressly, and is signed with full formalities, ideally self-proved. There is one document to find and one document to probate.

A codicil. A codicil is a supplement that changes specific provisions of an existing will and leaves the rest in place. It must be signed and witnessed exactly as a will is. Codicils made sense when retyping a will meant retyping every page. They make less sense now that a lawyer’s file holds the will as a document that can be revised and reprinted in minutes. They still have a place for a single narrow change when the original is long and recently signed, but each codicil adds a document that must be kept with the will, read alongside it, and reconciled with it. Two or three codicils layered over an old will are a recipe for ambiguity and for a beneficiary’s argument about which provision controls.

Another writing executed as a will. The statute’s third category covers a separate signed and witnessed instrument that declares the alteration without calling itself a codicil. In practice it is a codicil by another name.

One narrow exception exists for personal belongings. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-11, a will may refer to a separate signed or handwritten list disposing of tangible personal property, and that list may be changed later without witnesses. It covers furniture, jewelry, and similar items, not money or real estate. Our article on dividing personal belongings after a death explains how it works.

Why Doesn’t Marking Up the Will Work?

Because the statute says so, and because the same physical acts are how a will is revoked. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-13, a will or any part of it is revoked “by the performance of a revocatory act on the will,” which “includes burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating or destroying the will or any part of it,” if done with intent to revoke. Crossing out a bequest can therefore revoke that bequest. Writing a replacement bequest in the margin does not add it, because the added words were not signed and witnessed. The likely result of striking “to my nephew John” and writing “to my niece Mary” above it is that neither takes and the property falls into the residuary clause, or into intestacy if the residuary clause was the one changed.

The same goes for a typed addendum placed in the envelope with the will, a letter to the executor explaining what you now want, or a note on the cover. None is executed with will formalities, so none alters the will. At best, a court might give one effect under the clear-and-convincing-evidence rule after a contested hearing. At worst, the family fights over it.

What Happens to the Old Will When You Sign a New One?

Say so, and the question does not arise. A new will should state that it revokes all prior wills and codicils. If it does not, N.J.S.A. 3B:3-13 supplies presumptions: a later will that makes a complete disposition of the estate is presumed to replace the earlier one, which is then revoked; a later will that does not dispose of the whole estate is presumed to supplement the earlier one, and both are read together. Either presumption can be overcome only by clear and convincing evidence.

Once a will is revoked, tearing up the will that revoked it does not bring it back. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-15, a revoked will “shall not be revived except by reexecution or by a duly executed codicil expressing an intention to revive it,” subject to narrow exceptions that again turn on clear and convincing evidence of intent. A client who destroys the 2024 will hoping the 2015 will springs back to life usually ends up with no will at all.

When you sign a new will, destroy the old originals or have your lawyer do so, and tell anyone holding a copy that it has been replaced.

What Changes Automatically?

Only one event rewrites a New Jersey will on its own. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-14, a divorce or annulment revokes any revocable disposition to a former spouse or to the former spouse’s relatives, any power of appointment given to them, and any nomination of them as executor, trustee, guardian, or agent, in a will and in other “governing instruments” such as revocable trusts and beneficiary designations, unless the document, a court order, or a marital settlement agreement says otherwise. The former spouse is treated as having predeceased. Divorce also severs joint tenancies between the former spouses into tenancies in common. Remarriage to the same person revives the revoked provisions.

Nothing else is automatic. Marriage does not add a spouse to a will, though a spouse who is left out may claim an elective share, as explained in our article on what a surviving spouse is entitled to. The birth of a child does not add the child. The death of a beneficiary does not redirect the gift except as the will or the anti-lapse statute provides. An executor who has moved to England, become estranged, or died is still the named executor until you name someone else.

How Do New York and Connecticut Differ?

Many of our clients own property or family ties in a neighboring state, and the rules there are similar in outline but stricter in detail.

New York. Under EPTL 3-2.1, the testator must sign “at the end” of the will, the signature must be made or acknowledged in the presence of each of at least two attesting witnesses, the testator must declare to them that the document is a will, and the witnesses must sign within thirty days. Anything written after the testator’s signature, other than the attestation clause, is given no effect. Under EPTL 3-4.1, a will may be revoked or altered only by another will, by a writing “executed with the formalities prescribed by this article,” or by physical destruction. New York does not recognize handwritten unwitnessed wills except for members of the armed forces in wartime and mariners at sea, under EPTL 3-2.2, and it has no general harmless-error rule. Divorce revokes provisions for a former spouse under EPTL 5-1.4 on terms much like New Jersey’s.

Connecticut. Under General Statutes section 45a-251, a will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and “attested by two witnesses, each of them subscribing in the testator’s presence.” Under section 45a-257, a will is revoked only by burning, cancelling, tearing, or obliterating it, or by a later will or codicil. Under section 45a-257c, divorce or annulment revokes dispositions to and nominations of a former spouse unless the will provides otherwise, with revival on remarriage. Connecticut has no harmless-error statute and recognizes no unwitnessed will.

A will signed in New Jersey with New Jersey formalities is generally valid in the other two states, and Connecticut’s statute says so expressly. The reverse is also true. But a New Jersey resident who updates a will while living temporarily in New York or Connecticut should follow the stricter local rules, and anyone who moves should have the will reviewed in the new state.

When Should You Update Your Will?

Review it every three to five years and after any of these:

• Marriage, divorce, or the end of a long relationship, including a child’s divorce if a son- or daughter-in-law is named
• Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild, or a child reaching adulthood
• Death or incapacity of a beneficiary, executor, trustee, or guardian
• A move to another state, or the purchase of property in one
• A significant change in assets, including a business, an inheritance, or a home sale
• A change in tax law that affects a plan built around old exemption amounts
• A change of heart about who should receive what, or who should be in charge

Two reminders round out the review. First, a will controls only probate assets. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and accounts with named beneficiaries or joint owners pass outside the will, and updating the will does not update them. Second, the will is one of several documents. A power of attorney and a health care directive that name a person you no longer trust need the same attention. Our article on the types of power of attorney in New Jersey covers how those are changed and revoked.

Plan Well. Live Better.

A will that no longer says what you want is not much better than no will at all, and a will changed the wrong way can be worse. At Milvidskiy Law Group, we update wills and complete estate plans, and we make sure the old documents are properly retired when the new ones are signed. Learn more about our estate planning services.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The statutes described were verified in September 2026 against the New Jersey Statutes, the New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, and the Connecticut General Statutes and should be confirmed before relying on them.