Although your Will itself cannot be altered after your death, its effect can be if there is a disclaimer or a variation.
Variations
When the recipient of a gift under a Will wants someone else to receive the gift, or part of it, they can make a variation.
A variation can be made so that the gift goes to more than one new beneficiary. For example, a gift of property to the deceased’s sister could be varied to pass to her three children.
You could say that it would be easy for the beneficiary simply to give the property or asset to the person they want to receive it. But a variation means there was no tax risk to the original beneficiary, either in inheritance tax or capital gains tax, because the beneficiary will not be considered to have owned the property or given it away.
If only one of the affected beneficiaries wants to vary a gift, they can only do so out of their own share.
How variations work
A variation does not involve actually changing the Will itself, but when a variation is made the Will takes effect as if it had been changed by the variation.
If done by deed of variation, this is legally binding and the estate must be distributed as if the changes had been included in the original Will.
The deed is an agreement between the beneficiary named in the Will, the person who will be receiving the gift after the variation, and (ideally) the personal representatives.
It describes, in legal language:
the gift that the beneficiary was due to receive under the Will
how that gift is now to be made to the new beneficiary instead.
As a deed, it will need to be signed by two witnesses. Good practice is that the witnesses should not be people mentioned in the Will, or members of the family.
Then the Will has effect as if the gift had been made to the new beneficiary.
Variation in return for compensation
If anything more than a simple variation in favour of a new beneficiary is being contemplated, a bespoke document would be necessary.
For example:
There is more than one beneficiary of a property. One or more of the beneficiaries might wish to vary the legacy in favour of the other(s), in return for compensation to the value of their ‘share’.
A simple deed of variation is not sufficient for this. It's not a requirement to record such payments, but it is advisable to guard against any subsequent dispute as to whether the monies were or were not paid.
When may the variation be made?
A variation may be made at any time – before or after grant of probate has been obtained. It can even be done if the administration of the estate has been completed and the deceased’s assets distributed. But there are two important points to remember:
if it is made for inheritance tax purposes, the deed of variation must be made within two years of the death or it will be ineffective for those purposes
the longer after the death it is left – especially if the estate has already been administered – the more difficult it will be to redistribute assets or property.
When a variation cannot be made
There are certain exceptions:
children (under 18) cannot consent to a variation
the same property cannot be redirected more than once;
you cannot enter into a variation as a result of being offered payment from someone outside the estate.