From the time a will is written until, after the writer’s death, all of his or he property is distributed among the heirs, the process of dividing the property of the deceased goes through several stages in the legal disposition of wills.

The earliest stage in the legal disposition of a will comes before the will has ever been written; it is a promise to make a will. This occurs most frequently with spouses, who each leave their property to the other better half based on a guarantee the other better half will do similarly. On other occasions, a promise to make a will takes place in the context of a credit transaction. Someone who borrows money agrees, as a condition of the loan, to make a will leaving enough money to the bank to reimburse the loan.

The next stage in the legal disposition of a will is the actual making of a will. A will must meet certain technical legal requirements. The person who makes the will must be over the age of 18 years and must be “of sound mind” – that is, have an idea of what their property includes, who their blood relatives are, how they want to dispose of their property, and in what manner the legal disposition of the will will be made.

The legal disposition of a will where the testator ( the person that wrote the will ) is still alive is that the will has no legal effect. The will only has a significant legal effect after the person who made the will has died.

The legal disposition of a revoked will is the same as if the will had never been made. The rules for revoking a will can alter dependent on the location where the testator lives. In some places, a testator can merely state “I revoke this will. ” In others, the testator must tear up the will or destroy it in addition to stating the intention to revoke the will.

A testator can change their will at any point till death. The testator can either write a Codicil, or a document amending an existing will, or tear the old will up and start over from nothing. Any new will should contain a provision stating that the testator revokes all prior wills, just to be sure no old wills pop up unexpectedly.