Codicil

You cannot bequeath money or immovable property or appoint an executor by means of a codicil. You can include your wishes regarding your funeral in your codicil. Your codicil will not be registered in the Central Register of Wills. You can, however, deposit your codicil with your notary. And it's useful to let your next of kin know about your codicil. Keep the signed original at home with your papers.

If you draw up a will at the notary, a parent codicil will lapse if you have drawn one up, with the exception of your donor codicil.

There are a number of rules regarding the legal validity of a codicil:

1. The codicil must be entirely handwritten
2. The codicil must have a date and your signature
3. Clothing and so-called 'personal accessories' can all be left in your codicil at the same time. Items such as jewelry, books, furniture and paintings must be described and left in your codicil. There are plenty of examples of a codicil on the internet.

For a number of items it is not clear whether you can leave them in a codicil or whether you have to have a will made. It is therefore advisable to always obtain information about this from your notary.

You can always revoke a codicil. If you are going to have a will drawn up and you already have a codicil that must remain valid, let your notary know. If you don't have a will and you just want to change your codicil, make sure that all old copies are replaced by the new version.

Different rules apply to a donor codicil and it is registered centrally in the Donor Register, see the article: Organ and tissue donation