Codicil · Free downloadEngland & Wales

A codicil changes a will you have already signed. Here is the free template.

A codicil is a signed, witnessed change to a will you already have. It does not go inside the will. It sits beside it, and both are read together when probate comes. The law treats it as a will in its own right — same signature, same two witnesses, same rules. Free. No account, no card, no email.

Wills Act 1837 s.9Two witnessesA4 PDF + WordEngland & WalesEdition 2026

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First Codicil

I, ________________________________, of

________________________________,

declare this to be the first codicil to

my will dated ____ / ____ / ________.

Amendment

1. I revoke clause ______ of my said will

and substitute the following: ________

Confirmation

In all other respects I confirm my said will.

Attestation · Signature · Two witnesses

Read before you sign — this decides whether your codicil counts

A codicil has to be signed and witnessed exactly like a will. The Wills Act 1837 defines "will" to include a codicil, so nothing is relaxed because the document is short. You sign in front of two witnesses who are both there at the same time, and each of them then signs while you watch.

A witness — or that witness's husband, wife or civil partner — must not be a beneficiary. A gift to an attesting witness is “utterly null and void”: the statute's own words. A codicil also republishes the will, so a beneficiary who witnesses your codicil can lose a gift the will validly gave them.

This template is a blank. You fill it in yourself. Nothing in it is prepared for you and no part of it is personalised. It is a starting point, not legal advice, and it does not replace a solicitor. Take advice for anything involving trusts, business or agricultural property, assets abroad, second families, or anyone likely to dispute the will.

Wills Act 1837 ss.1, 9 and 15 · revised text on legislation.gov.uk · checked 12 September 2026.

§1

The template

FreeA4 PDFWord (.docx)England & WalesEdition 2026No account

Codicil to a Will — blank template

Seven pages. The identification clause that ties the codicil to your will by date, numbered amendment clauses, the confirmation clause that leaves the rest of the will standing, and the full attestation block with signing space for you and two witnesses. Every clause is explained beside the blank. Fill it in yourself, in ink.

Download — Codicil template (PDF)Download — Codicil template (Word)

A blank you complete yourself. Not legal advice. Not a substitute for a qualified solicitor where your circumstances need one.

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Take the codicil template with you.

We'll email you the codicil template as a PDF — for when you're at a printer, or to pass to the person who'll need it. The download above stays free either way.

This template is a blank you fill in yourself. If you would rather make the change with professional preparation behind it, the Valoren Will products → are often the more honest answer than a second document.

§2

What a codicil is, and what it does not do

A codicil is a second document, not an edit. It never goes inside the will; the two are read together at probate, and both originals are needed.

It identifies the will

Names you, and names your will by its date. Without that date there is nothing tying the two documents together, and a registry has to work out which will you meant.

It numbers itself

First codicil, second codicil, and so on. Numbering is not a formality — it tells whoever reads them in what order your intentions changed.

It states the change, and only the change

One clause revoked, one clause substituted, one legacy added. Anything you do not mention stays exactly as the will left it.

It confirms the rest

The closing line — in all other respects I confirm my said will — is what stops the codicil reading as a replacement. It also republishes the will, which is why the witness rule bites twice.

What a codicil cannot do is tidy anything up. It cannot merge itself into the will, it cannot cancel a will that marriage has already revoked, and it cannot make a crossing-out on the signed will valid after the event. Those are §6.

§3

The law, provision by provision

Seventeen provisions decide whether a codicil counts. They sit across four Acts and one rule of the Probate Rules, and each one below is linked to its exact section — not to an Act's contents page.

Two further Probate Rules — r.10 and r.12 — govern what the registry does afterwards, not what the codicil must satisfy on the day it is signed. They appear in §5, §6 and §10, not in the table below.

The law that governs a codicil in England and Wales

Every statutory provision a codicil in England and Wales has to satisfy, with the section, the consequence of failing it, and the date each was checked.
Provision	What it requires	If you get it wrong	Source
Wills Act 1837 s.1 — "will" includes a codicil	The word will extends to a codicil. Every rule written for a will applies, with no carve-out.	Nothing is relaxed because the document is short.	s.1 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.7 — age	No will made by a person under 18 is valid. Age was reduced from 21 by the Family Law Reform Act 1969 s.3(1).	A codicil made under 18 is void.	s.7 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.9(1)(a) — writing and signature	In writing, and signed by you, or by someone else in your presence and at your direction.	An unsigned codicil has no effect at all.	s.9 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.9(1)(b) — intention	It must appear that you intended your signature to give effect to the document.	A signature left as a draft mark may not count.	s.9 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.9(1)(c) — two witnesses, together	You sign, or acknowledge your signature, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time.	The commonest failure. Probate can be refused under NCPR r.12.	s.9 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.9(1)(d) — each witness signs	Each witness attests and signs, or acknowledges their signature, in your presence. They need not be in each other's presence for this part.	An unwitnessed codicil changes nothing, however clearly written.	s.9 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.9(2) — video witnessing, now closed	"Presence" included videoconference only for wills and codicils made between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024.	A codicil witnessed by video link today fails. Registry key WILL_WITNESS_REQUIREMENT.	s.9 ↗
Administration of Justice Act 1982 s.17	Substituted the modern s.9 into the 1837 Act.	The s.9 you must satisfy is the 1982 text, not the Victorian one.	note ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.15 — a witness who is a beneficiary	A beneficial gift to an attesting witness, or to that witness's wife or husband, is "utterly null and void".	The codicil stands. The gift does not.	s.15 ↗
Civil Partnership Act 2004 Sch.4 para 3	Applied s.15 to civil partners from 5 December 2005.	The same forfeiture reaches a witness's civil partner.	note ↗
Wills Act 1968 s.1(1) — the narrow saving	The interested witness's attestation is disregarded if the will or codicil is duly executed without it — two other, disinterested witnesses also signed.	Almost nobody knows this, and no rival page explains it. Do not rely on it: use two disinterested witnesses in the first place.	s.1 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.18(1) — marriage	A will is revoked by the testator's marriage.	A codicil cannot revive a will that no longer exists. Make a new will.	s.18 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.18(3) — the contemplation exception	A will survives the marriage if it appears from the will that you expected to marry that particular person and intended the will not to be revoked by it.	This has to be in the original will. It cannot be added afterwards by codicil.	s.18 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.18A(1) — divorce or dissolution	The will is not revoked. The former spouse is treated as having died on the date of the decree, for gifts and for their executor appointment.	The rest of the will stands, often not as you would now choose. A new will, not a codicil.	s.18A ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.20 — revocation	A will or codicil is revoked only by a later will or codicil, by a signed and witnessed writing declaring the revocation, or by burning, tearing or destroying it with the intention of revoking it.	The section's own title names codicils. Throwing a codicil away is only revocation if you meant it and did it yourself, or had it done in your presence.	s.20 ↗
Wills Act 1837 s.21 — alterations after execution	An obliteration, interlineation or other alteration made after execution is invalid unless the alteration itself is executed like a will.	A biro line through a legacy changes nothing — except that it invites the registry to ask questions.	s.21 ↗
NCPR 1987 r.14(1) — the registry's own cure	Where a will carries an alteration not authenticated under s.21, or by re-execution, or by the execution of a codicil, the registrar requires evidence of when it was made.	This is the Probate Registry naming a codicil as one of the three ways an alteration is cured. No rival page cites it.	r.14 ↗

Sources: legislation.gov.uk, "Latest available (Revised)" text, and the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. All fetched and quoted 12 September 2026.

The Wills Act 1837 is still the law. The Law Commission published Modernising Wills Law (Law Com No 419) on 16 May 2025 with a draft Bill that would replace it and allow electronic and video witnessing. No Bill has been laid before Parliament and no commencement date exists. Until one does, everything above applies exactly as written.

Checked 12 September 2026 · registry key WILL_WITNESS_REQUIREMENT.

§4

Before you sign: the execution routine

Most codicils that fail do not fail on the words. They fail on who was in the room, and when.

Two witnesses, and both of them watching you sign.

Not one after the other. Not on separate days. Not one in the kitchen. You sign, or say out loud that the signature already there is yours, while both of them are looking.

Each witness then signs while you watch.

They do not have to watch each other — s.9(1)(d) does not require that, whatever most guides say. They do have to sign in your presence.

Neither witness may be a beneficiary — of the codicil or of the will.

The gift is void. And because a codicil republishes the will, a will-beneficiary who witnesses your codicil can lose a gift the will validly gave them. Pick two people with no stake in either document.

Witnesses must be 18 or over and understand what they are doing.

Someone who cannot see the signature being made cannot attest it.

Ink, on paper, in one sitting.

Video witnessing closed on 31 January 2024. Sign the date the same day you sign your name. Do not sign a codicil and date it later.

Never write on the will itself.

An alteration made after the will was executed is invalid unless it is signed and witnessed like a will in its own right. That is what the codicil is for.

Wills Act 1837 ss.9, 15 and 21 · legislation.gov.uk · checked 12 September 2026.

§5

Will and codicil, side by side

Almost nothing is different. That is the point of the table, and the reason people get codicils wrong: they expect a shortcut, and there isn't one.

A will and a codicil, requirement by requirement

The execution requirements for a will and for a codicil in England and Wales, compared, with the governing section.
Requirement	A will	A codicil	Section
In writing	Required	Required	s.9(1)(a) via s.1
Signed by the person making it	Required, or by someone in their presence and at their direction	Identical	s.9(1)(a)
Two witnesses, both present when you sign	Required	Identical	s.9(1)(c)
Each witness signs in your presence	Required	Identical — and not necessarily in each other's presence	s.9(1)(d)
Witnesses must not be beneficiaries	The gift to them is void; the will stands	The gift is void — and it can void a gift the will gave them, because a codicil republishes the will	s.15
Minimum age 18	Required	Identical	s.7
Revokes earlier documents	Only if the will says so	No. A codicil adds to the will; it does not replace it	s.20
Original needed at probate	Yes	Yes — every codicil, not just the last	NCPR 1987 r.10

Wills Act 1837 and NCPR 1987 · legislation.gov.uk · checked 12 September 2026.

§6

When a codicil is the wrong tool

For most changes, a new will is the safer instrument, and it is not close. A codicil is a second piece of paper that has to be found, read alongside the first, and agreed with it. Every extra document is one more thing to lose and one more thing to argue about.

Marriage revokes a will outright. Under s.18(1) of the Wills Act 1837, marriage revokes the will you made before it — unless the will itself shows you expected to marry that particular person and intended it to survive. A codicil cannot revive a will that marriage has already revoked. There is nothing left for it to amend. If you have married or formed a civil partnership since you signed, the answer is a new will, and the honest version of that sentence is: until you make one, the intestacy rules decide.

Divorce does the opposite, and that is its own trap. s.18A(1) does not revoke the will. It edits it: your former spouse is treated as having died on the date of the decree, so gifts to them fail and their executor appointment falls away. Everything else stands exactly as written — including a residuary clause that now leaves the estate somewhere you would not choose. Rebuild it deliberately. Depth on both events: when marriage revokes a will.

You cannot cross anything out. s.21 makes an alteration to an executed will invalid unless the alteration itself is signed and witnessed like a will. And rule 14(1) of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 tells you what happens next: where a will carries an alteration that is not authenticated under s.21, or by re-execution, or by the execution of a codicil, the registrar requires evidence about when the alteration was made. A crossing-out does not change your will. It delays your executor.

Two codicils is where professionals stop. There is no legal limit. But a third document read together with the other two at probate is how contradictions are born, and under rule 12(1) a registrar who is satisfied a document was not duly executed refuses probate on it. If you already have a codicil, the next change is a new will.

Make a new will instead of a codicil whenever the change touches who gets the estate or in what shares; whenever you want several changes at once; whenever you have married, divorced or remarried since the will was signed; and whenever a codicil already exists. A codicil is for one small, self-contained change: an executor swapped, a name corrected, one fixed legacy added.

For the life events that should trigger a review in the first place — and how often to look — read when to update your will. That page owns the question. This one owns the instrument.

Wills Act 1837 ss.18, 18A, 20, 21 · NCPR 1987 rr.12, 14 · legislation.gov.uk · checked 12 September 2026.

§7

Codicil or new will: the decision table

Find your change in the left column. Where the answer is a new will, the reason is in the table, not in a sales line.

Which instrument each change needs

For each common change to a signed will, whether a codicil or a new will is the right instrument, and why.
The change you want	The right instrument	Why	Source
Swap one executor for another	Codicil	Self-contained. Nothing else in the will moves.	—
Correct a name or an address after a marriage or a house move	Codicil	Identification only. No gift changes hands.	—
Add one fixed cash legacy	Codicil	One clause, one beneficiary. The residue is untouched.	—
Remove a legacy	Codicil, with care	The residue grows by the amount you removed. Say so, or someone will argue the gift simply lapsed.	—
Authenticate something already crossed out on the signed will	Codicil, or re-execute the will	The Probate Registry names a codicil as one of the three ways an unauthenticated alteration is cured.	NCPR 1987 r.14(1)
Change who receives the residue, or the shares	New will	This is the clause that decides most of the estate. Two documents arguing over it is how estates end up in court.	—
Several changes at once	New will	Every extra document is another thing to find, to read together, and to challenge.	—
You have married or formed a civil partnership since the will	New will	Marriage revoked the will. There is nothing left for a codicil to amend.	Wills Act 1837 s.18(1)
You have divorced or dissolved a civil partnership	New will	The will survives but statute has edited it — the former spouse is treated as having died. Rebuild it on purpose.	Wills Act 1837 s.18A(1)
A codicil already exists	New will	Three documents read together at probate is where contradictions come from.	—
A clause in the will is ambiguous	New will, usually	If two readers can take a clause two ways, a second document rarely settles it — it gives them a second thing to disagree about.	—

Statutory rows sourced to legislation.gov.uk, checked 12 September 2026. Rows with no statute are professional practice, not law, and are marked as such.

§8

What it costs

The template above is free. Everything else on this page costs money, so here is what.

What changing a will costs

Published prices for amending or replacing a will in England and Wales, with the source and the date each was last checked.
Route	Price	What you get	Source · checked
This template	Free	A blank codicil you complete yourself, as A4 PDF and Word. No account, no card, no email.	valoren.uk · 12 Sep 2026
Online will service — a new will instead	£60–£150	A new will prepared online. Complex online wills reach £450 and above.	MoneySavingExpert cheap-wills guide · registry key ONLINE_WILL_SERVICE · 19 Jul 2026
Solicitor-drafted simple will	£150–£500	A new will drafted for you. London and the South East run £400–£750.	Curwens · Kew Law · Co-op · MSE · registry key SOLICITOR_SIMPLE_WILL · 8 Sep 2026
The Valoren Will	£149 single · £229 mirror pair	A complete will, prepared and specialist-reviewed, with registration on the National Will Register and twelve months of Will Watch included.	src/lib/oneOffProducts.js · 12 Sep 2026

We have not published a market price for a codicil. No firm we could verify publishes a current one we would be willing to quote, and a 2022 price list is not a 2026 price.

Cost is rarely the deciding factor. A codicil that is cheap and wrong costs the estate more than a new will that is right. Read §6 before you read this table twice.

§9

Where the codicil goes after you sign

A codicil nobody finds is a codicil that never happened. If it is not produced at death, the estate is administered on the unamended will.

Keep it with the will. Not somewhere safer.

The two documents travel together. A codicil filed separately “for safekeeping” is the one that goes missing.

Never staple, pin or clip it to the will.

Keep them in one envelope, unattached. This is registry practice, not statute.

Tell your executor it exists.

HMCTS needs the original will and every codicil. Photocopies are not accepted as a matter of course. Our walkthrough of the application that asks for them: PA1P.

If the will is lodged on the National Will Register, lodge the codicil the same way. A search that finds the will and not the codicil has found the wrong instrument. National Will Register search fees: £65 inc VAT standard, £140 inc VAT combined — checked 19 Jul 2026.

NCPR 1987 r.10 · GOV.UK PA1P guidance · nationalwillregister.co.uk · checked 12 September 2026.

§10

If it goes wrong at the registry

A codicil is checked when it is too late to fix. Here is what each mistake actually does, and whether anything can be done about it afterwards.

What the Probate Registry does with a doubtful codicil

How the Probate Registry treats a will or codicil whose execution or condition is in doubt, under the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987.
The situation	What the registry does	What that means for the estate	Rule
Only a photocopy of the codicil survives	The will and codicils are exhibited to the registry; a facsimile copy is allowed only at the registrar's discretion	Assume the original is needed. Plan storage on that basis.	r.10
Execution looks doubtful on the face of it	The registrar may require evidence from the witnesses about how it was signed	Your two witnesses may be contacted years later. Record their full names, addresses and occupations on the document itself.	r.12(1)
The registrar is satisfied it was not duly executed	Probate is refused and the document is marked accordingly	The estate falls back to the earlier will — or, if there is none, to intestacy.	r.12(1)
An alteration on the will is not authenticated	The registrar requires evidence of whether the alteration was there when the will was executed	An unexplained crossing-out is an open question, and open questions take time.	r.14(1)
The alteration is authenticated by a codicil	The codicil is the cure the rule itself names	This is the legitimate use of a codicil that most template pages never mention.	r.14(1)
A codicil exists but is not produced	Nothing — the registry cannot act on a document it has not seen	The estate is administered on the unamended will. Your change never happened.	—

The execution failures, and what each one costs

The eight ways a codicil's execution commonly fails in England and Wales, the legal effect of each, and whether it can be repaired after death.
What went wrong	Legal effect	Fixable after death?	Source
Only one witness	Not validly executed	No	s.9(1)(c) · NCPR r.12
The two witnesses signed on different days	Not validly executed — they must both be present when you sign	No	s.9(1)(c)
You signed before the witnesses arrived	The signature was not made in their joint presence	Only if you later acknowledged it in front of both of them together	s.9(1)(c)
A beneficiary witnessed it	The codicil stands. Their gift is “utterly null and void”	Only in one narrow case: if two other, disinterested witnesses also signed, that attestation is disregarded and the gift survives	s.15 · Wills Act 1968 s.1(1)
The beneficiary's husband, wife or civil partner witnessed it	The same forfeiture	The same narrow saving	s.15 · CPA 2004 Sch.4 para 3
Witnessed by video link	Invalid for any codicil made after 31 January 2024	No	s.9(2)
You crossed something out on the will instead	The alteration is invalid unless executed like a will	The registrar requires evidence of when it was made; a codicil or re-execution is the cure while you are alive	s.21 · NCPR r.14
Pages were attached and later removed	Fastening marks raise the question of a missing page	Evidence may be required. Prevention is the only real answer.	NCPR r.14 context · registry practice

Wills Act 1837 · Wills Act 1968 · Civil Partnership Act 2004 · Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 · all fetched from legislation.gov.uk on 12 September 2026.

§11

Go further

What a blank codicil cannot do — and what sits behind it.

The will's location, recorded

A codicil and a will only work if both are found. Your portal records where the originals are kept (R-04), so your executor is not searching the house on the worst day.

Executor on file

Swapping an executor by codicil changes a name on paper. Record P-05 holds who they are, how to reach them, and a brief they can act on.

Beneficiaries and shares

Record P-10 holds who gets what. When the codicil changes a share, the record and the instrument stay consistent instead of drifting apart.

Start your free household dossier →Make it official — the Valoren Will, £149 Signum — professional preparation

More free printables: who to notify checklist · bank notification letter template · probate documents checklist · probate inventory template

§12

Questions

Yes, in full. The Wills Act 1837 defines "will" to include a codicil, so section 9 applies word for word: in writing, signed by you, in front of two witnesses who are both present at the same time, each of whom then signs while you watch.

Nothing is relaxed because the document is short or because the will was witnessed properly the first time. An unwitnessed amendment has no effect, however clearly it is written.

No. Section 21 of the Wills Act 1837 makes an alteration to an executed will invalid unless the alteration itself is signed and witnessed in the same way as a will.

A crossing-out changes nothing legally, and it makes things worse: rule 14 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 requires the registrar to ask for evidence about when an unauthenticated alteration was made. That is a delay your executor inherits. The codicil — or re-executing the will — is the cure the rule itself names.

They can hold the pen, and it will cost them their inheritance. Section 15 says a gift to a witness, or to that witness's husband or wife, is "utterly null and void" — the statute's own words. Civil partners were brought in by the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

There is one narrow saving almost nobody knows: under section 1 of the Wills Act 1968, the interested witness's attestation is disregarded if the document was duly executed without it, because two other disinterested witnesses also signed. Do not plan around it. Use two people with no stake in either the will or the codicil.

Yes. A properly executed handwritten codicil is as binding as a typed one — the law cares about the signature and the witnesses, not the typeface.

The risk is not the handwriting, it is ambiguity. A phrase two readers can take two ways is a dispute waiting for probate. Write it out in pencil first, read it back cold the next day, then produce the clean copy you sign.

There is no legal limit, and that is not the useful answer. By the second codicil, most professionals stop amending and start again with a fresh will.

Three documents read together at probate is where contradictions come from, and under rule 12 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules a registrar who is satisfied a document was not duly executed refuses probate on it. One clear will beats a will plus two codicils every time.

No. Under section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 your marriage revoked the will, unless the will itself shows that you expected to marry that particular person and intended it to survive the marriage.

A codicil amends a will. If the will has been revoked there is nothing left to amend, and until you make a new one the intestacy rules decide who inherits. Divorce works the other way round: section 18A leaves the will standing but treats your former spouse as having died, so the rest of it applies unchanged. Either way, the answer is a new will.

Plate R · Related