Can a will be changed after someone dies?

A deed of variation lets beneficiaries redirect what they have inherited — to other relatives, to charity, or down a generation. Its power comes from section 142 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 and section 62 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, which treat the redirection as having been made by the deceased.

What the read-back achieves

• Assets redirected to charity attract the charity exemption as if the deceased had left them that way.
• A gift to a surviving spouse not in the will can still qualify for the spouse exemption.
• Assets passed to grandchildren use their own nil-rate band rather than swelling the original beneficiary's estate for a second round of tax later.
• The original beneficiary starts no seven-year clock — they are not treated as making a gift at all — and takes no capital gains hit, because the new beneficiary acquires at probate value.

The requirements, and the mistakes

The variation must be in writing and executed within two years of the death — a deadline neither HMRC nor the courts can extend. Every beneficiary whose entitlement is reduced must sign; those who gain need not. It must contain an express statement of intention that section 142 (and section 62(6) for CGT) is to apply — omitting it is the single most common failure, and without it HMRC treats the whole thing as a fresh gift from the original beneficiary. There must be no consideration: paying someone to redirect their inheritance destroys the treatment. Where the variation increases the inheritance tax due, the personal representatives must sign too, and HMRC must be notified within six months.

Some beneficiaries simply cannot consent. Minors and people lacking mental capacity need court approval, which is slow and not guaranteed, and unborn beneficiaries make the position more complex still. Two further traps: varying into a trust from which the original beneficiary still benefits loses the tax effect, because they are treated as the settlor; and income arising between death and the variation belongs to the original beneficiary and is taxed as theirs — only capital is redirected.

A variation can redirect an intestate estate just as easily as a will. Drafting costs typically run from £300 to £1,500 and are usually paid from the estate, which is small against the tax often saved. Where a variation is being used to settle an Inheritance Act dispute, keep the separate six-month claim deadline in view and issue protectively if it is about to expire.