If you seek to change or amend some portion of your Last Will and Testament, or seek to write a whole new Will due to changes in life circumstances, it is of utmost importance to seek the advice of an experience estate planning attorney. An improperly drafted or executed will can have serious ramifications insofar as the wishes of the testator are concerned. If a will is not properly executed pursuant to statute, the will may be invalid and your assets will not be distributed as per your wishes, but rather by statute according to your surviving next of kin (laws of intestacy).
As to the question at hand, if you want to remove a non-relative from your will (or any relative for that matter with the special exception pertaining to a spouse), you can execute a codicil to your existing last will and testament. It is very important to note that a codicil to a will must be executed in exactly the same manner as would a last will and testament, notably that the signing of the codicil must be witnesses by to “disinterested” witnesses. It may make more sense to draft a whole new will should you have more than one change to make to your will, as it is a cleaner process when one intact will is submitted to probate as opposed to a will with one or more codicils.
Be sure that you do not hand write any changes to the will or attempt to remove staples or otherwise change any portion of your existing will without consulting an attorney.
Should you require an experienced estate attorney, please contact the Law Offices of Michael W. Alpert at (516) 280-7288 or malpert@alpertlegal.com.