Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: Codcile to a Will

A codicil is an amendment to a will. Therefore,

it completely CHANGES the will. The codicil

governs, concerning the topics contained in the

codicil.

HOWEVER... neither the will NOR the codicil is

likely to have ANY effect over the beneficiaries

of insurance policies or any IRA or 457/401's.

An insurance policy, IRA, and 457/401's are all

separate financial instruments. Each one of these

can have different designations of how the

beneficiaries will be under those financial

instruments. These are usually NOT controlled

by the will (or a codicil to the will).

If it is desired to make those conform to the

will, you must separately change each one of those

instruments to have the correct beneficiaries.

For example, an insurance policy is considered

to be a CONTRACT between the insured and the

insurance company... NOT an inheritance.

Pursuant to the contract, the insurance company

promises to do this or that (which they usually

violate when you need them), and then at death

pay over $X to certain people. This is governed

by the CONTRACT between the insured and the

insurance policy, and not by the person's will.