How do I legally update my Will?

Hello.  My name is Natasha Goodarzian and I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  My office is close to Fairfax (we're in Tysons Corner).  The attorney from New York answered the question most appropriately, in my opinion. 

If you do not have many assets and you simply want to revamp your will, you'd need to do so with appropriate legal steps that an attorney would understand well.  Also, I advise my clients to have 3 witnesses, not 2, although only 2 are mandatory.  Feel free to call me next week so that I can discuss this matter with you more, if you like.  Feel free to also look me up and check out my web site: www.natashalawfirm.com.  Hope to hear from you soon!

The amendment that you made is not likely going to be enforceable and will cause several questions to arise regarding your intent and the legality of the execution of the amendment.  I suggest that you take the will that is in place to a lawyer to draft an amendment to reflect your current charges.  In most states a will amendment must be done in the same manner that the will is executed whereby the witnesses and/or yourself, may need to take a certain oath or acknowledgment.  You also need to make sure that the way you made the amendment comports with he law and there no inconsistencies or ambiguities created. A will does not speak until death, so I suggest making the amendment with a lawyer's assistence.

I think that now that your children are adults you should consult with an estate planner regarding better estate planning tools that may now be prudent to use, such as a trust that holds your assets and helps to avoid going through the probate process. 

An amendment to a Will is called a Codicil.  And Codicils have to be executed in the same manner as a Will.  So your amendment, which I am assuming is just a re-written paper that is notarized, is probably not the best thing to do or a true Codicil.  And there is a point of view that states if you are going to go through the trouble of preparing a codicil you may as well prepare a new Will.  New Wills have language in them that revoke any prior Wills, so your new wishes would be adhered to.  Good luck.