A will signed in 1998 does not quietly stop working in 2026. That surprises people, because nearly everything else we sign carries a renewal date. Licenses, policies, registrations. Wills are not built that way.
So when clients ask us does a will expire, the answer is no. The document has no shelf life. What has changed, and what catches Massachusetts families off guard more than anything else we see, is the rule governing what happens to that old will when someone marries or divorces.
Why Time Alone Does Nothing to a Will
Under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, a change in your circumstances does not, by itself, revoke your will. Age does nothing to the document. Neither does a move, a new house, or twenty-five years in a filing cabinet.
Massachusetts recognizes two main routes to revocation. You sign a later will that replaces the earlier one, or you destroy the document intending to revoke it. Absent one of those, the paper stands.
Marriage and divorce are the narrow exceptions, and they are where the confusion lives.
The Marriage Rule Flipped in 2012
For generations, Massachusetts law was blunt: getting married wiped out an existing will entirely, unless the document showed it had been drafted in contemplation of that marriage. If you married and never signed a new will, your estate was distributed as though you had no will at all.
Plenty of people still repeat that rule. It has not been the law since March 31, 2012, when the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code took effect. The official commentary to the current statute says the new provision takes the opposite position from the old one.
Here is what replaced it. A premarital will survives the marriage. The surviving spouse is generally entitled to an intestate share, meaning roughly what the law would have given them had there been no will. That entitlement carries real limits. It does not reach property left to a child of the testator who was born before the marriage and who is not a child of the surviving spouse, or to that child’s descendants. It also does not apply if the will was made in contemplation of the marriage, or says it is meant to survive one.
What That Means for a Second Marriage
Read those exceptions again and the practical effect comes into focus, especially for blended families.
Picture a Wellesley homeowner who signed a will in 2004 leaving everything to two children from a first marriage, then remarried in 2015 and never updated the document. Under the old rule, that will would have been void and the estate would pass by intestacy. Under current law it stands, and the new spouse receives a statutory share carved out of whatever is not protected by those exceptions.
Neither outcome is what the couple sat down and chose. It is simply what the default produces. A statutory share is a floor set by the legislature, not a plan built around a particular family, and it says nothing about who should serve as personal representative, how assets should be timed, or how a surviving spouse and adult stepchildren are meant to share a house.
Divorce Runs the Other Direction
Divorce is treated more decisively. A finalized divorce revokes revocable gifts to a former spouse and to that spouse’s relatives, along with appointments naming them as personal representative, trustee, or agent. The reach extends past the will to beneficiary designations and similar instruments, which surprises people who assume a retirement account is untouched.
That is useful protection, though it is a backstop rather than a plan. Exceptions apply for court orders, property settlements, and the express terms of the document. Once a former spouse drops out, what governs is a set of contingent choices made years earlier: a successor trustee who has since moved away, a guardian named for children who now have children of their own.
In both situations, the law fills a gap. It does not design anything. For families weighing asset protection or long-term care alongside these questions, there are signs that a will alone may not be enough, and irrevocable trust planning is often part of that conversation.
Key Takeaways
- Massachusetts wills carry no expiration date, and the passage of time alone does not revoke one.
- Before 2012, marriage automatically revoked a will not made in contemplation of that marriage. That rule no longer applies.
- Today a premarital will survives, and the surviving spouse may instead receive a statutory intestate share, subject to exceptions that protect children from an earlier relationship.
- Divorce revokes gifts and appointments favoring a former spouse and that spouse’s relatives, reaching beneficiary designations as well as the will.
- Both rules are defaults. Neither reflects choices a particular family made together.
- A marriage, remarriage, or divorce is a practical moment to have an existing will reviewed.
Reviewing an Older Will With Estate & Elder Law Advisory
Most of the wills we review are not defective. They are simply older than the family they were written for, and they now sit alongside statutory rules that were rewritten after the ink dried.
Estate & Elder Law Advisory, PLLC works with families across Sharon, Brighton, Wellesley, and Cape Cod on estate planning, irrevocable trust planning, probate, and estate tax matters. Attorney Artika Angel holds the Accredited Estate Planner (AEP®) designation. Whether an existing will still fits depends on your circumstances, and an attorney can help you evaluate what has changed since you signed it. Our estate planning checklist is a reasonable place to start if you would like to gather your thinking first.
If your marital status has changed since anyone last read your will start to finish, that is reason enough to take another look. Schedule a consultation today to learn more.
References:
Massachusetts General Court, “Mass. General Laws c.190B § 2-301: Entitlement of spouse; premarital will” — https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mass-general-laws-c190b-ss-2-301 and Massachusetts General Court, “Mass. General Laws c.190B § 2-508: Revocation by change of circumstances” — https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mass-general-laws-c190b-ss-2-508.
