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Making a Will: A Practical Guide for England and Wales
A Will decides what happens to your money, property and possessions when you die, who deals with your affairs, and who looks after your children if they are still young. Making a Will is not difficult. Making one that still works when it is needed takes more thought than most people expect.
This guide explains what a Will is, what it can and cannot do, the decisions you will need to make, and the points that most often go wrong. It covers Wills made under the law of England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.
A professionally drafted Will does more than record who gets what. It deals with what happens if your first plan cannot work, so the people you care about inherit in the way you intended, without guesswork or argument.
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What is a Will?
A Will, formally your Last Will and Testament, is a written legal document that sets out what should happen to your estate when you die. Your estate is everything you own in your own name at that point, such as your share of any property, savings, investments and belongings, less your debts.
A Will only takes effect on your death. Until then it has no legal effect at all, and you can change it or replace it as often as you like, provided you have the mental capacity to do so.
A Will allows you to decide:
- who inherits, and in what shares
- who deals with your estate (your executors)
- who should look after your children if they are under 18 (their guardians)
- whether anyone should inherit through a trust rather than outright, and on what terms
- what should happen if someone you have named dies before you
- whether to leave gifts to charity
You can also record your funeral wishes, although, as explained below, they are wishes rather than binding instructions.
A Will and a Lasting Power of Attorney do different jobs. A Will only operates after your death. If illness or injury leaves you unable to manage your affairs during your lifetime, your Will cannot help. That is the role of a Lasting Power of Attorney, which lets people you choose make decisions for you while you are alive. Many people put both in place at the same time.
Why make a Will?
The short answer is control. If you make a valid Will, you decide who inherits, who is in charge and when people receive what you leave them. If you do not, the law decides for you, using fixed rules that take no account of your relationships or wishes.
A Will matters most where the default rules would get it wrong:
- You live with a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership. Your partner has no automatic right to inherit anything from you.
- You have children under 18. Only a Will lets you choose who would bring them up, and at what age they should receive their inheritance.
- You have a blended family. The default rules do not provide for stepchildren, and they may not divide your estate between a partner and your children in the way you would choose.
- Someone you want to provide for is vulnerable, or could not safely be given a lump sum.
- Your estate may be liable to Inheritance Tax. How a Will is structured can affect how much tax is paid.
- You want to leave something to a friend, a godchild or a charity. None of them inherits anything under the default rules.
What happens if you die without a Will?
If you die without a valid Will, you are said to die intestate, and your estate passes under the intestacy rules. In outline:
- If you are married or in a civil partnership and have no children (or grandchildren), your spouse or civil partner inherits everything.
- If you are married or in a civil partnership and have children, your spouse or civil partner receives your personal possessions, the first £322,000 of your estate and half of anything above that. Your children share the other half, which is held for them until they reach 18.
- If you are not married or in a civil partnership, your estate passes to your children. If you have none, it passes to other relatives in a fixed order, starting with parents, then brothers and sisters.
- An unmarried partner receives nothing, however long you have lived together and whether or not you have children together.
A spouse or civil partner must also survive you by 28 days to inherit under these rules.
There is no such thing as a “common-law husband” or “common-law wife” in England and Wales.
It is surprising how frequently clients are unaware that living together, even for decades, gives an unmarried partner no right to inherit. Their only route is to bring a court claim against your estate, which is stressful, costly and uncertain, and must usually brought against your own family members.
The people involved in a Will
Wills use a handful of roles. One person can hold several of them, but each role does a different job, and it helps to keep them separate in your mind.
Testator.
The person making the Will.
Executor.
The person who deals with your estate after you die: collecting what you owned, paying debts and any tax, and passing on what is left to the people entitled to it.
Trustee.
The person who looks after money or property held in a trust, sometimes for many years. Executors and trustees are often the same people, but they need not be.
Beneficiary.
Anyone who receives something under your Will, whether a person or a charity.
Guardian.
The person who would take parental responsibility for your children under 18 if no parent with parental responsibility survives you.
Witness.
One of two adults who watch you sign your Will and then sign it themselves. A witness should never be someone who benefits.
Some combinations are common and perfectly sensible. An executor can also be a beneficiary, and very often is: a husband, wife or adult child frequently fills both roles. A guardian can also be a trustee, although there can be good reasons to separate the person raising your children from the person managing their money.
One combination is never sensible. If a witness, or the husband, wife or civil partner of a witness, is left something in your Will, that gift will normally fail. The rest of the Will stays valid, but the person you intended to benefit loses out.
Your executors are in charge of your estate after your death. They are responsible for the practical and legal work of collecting in what you owned, paying what you owed and distributing the rest. You can appoint family members, friends, or a professional, or a combination.
What matters most is trust, good sense and willingness. It also helps if your executors are likely to outlive you, live in the UK, can deal with paperwork, and would get on with each other. Two executors is common. Up to four can apply to deal with an estate at the same time.
It is also wise to name a substitute in case your first choice dies before you or cannot act. An executor is not obliged to take on the role just because they are named in your Will; they can decline it when the time comes. So ask the people you have in mind before you appoint them.
If you have parental responsibility for a child under 18, your Will can appoint a guardian. Many people assume the person named will take over the moment they die. That is usually not how it works.
In most cases, a guardianship appointment only takes effect when there is no surviving parent with parental responsibility. If you die and the child’s other parent survives you and has parental responsibility, that parent will normally continue to care for the child, and your appointment waits in the background. There are exceptions, for example where a court order had settled that the child lives with you. Once an appointment does take effect, the guardian has parental responsibility for the child.
Choosing a guardian means thinking about more than one name:
- their age, health and circumstances, and whether they would realistically be able to take on your children
- whether you are appointing a couple, and what should happen if they separate
- who should step in if your first choice cannot
- whether the guardian should also control the money you leave for your children, or whether that should rest with separate trustees
What to think about before making a Will
You do not need every answer before you make a Will. Part of a Will writer’s job is to raise the questions you have not thought of. But the process is quicker, and the result is better, if you have thought about the following beforehand.
Your family and relationships.
Your marital or civil partnership status matters, including whether you are separated but not yet divorced, because a separated spouse can still inherit. So does whether you are planning to marry, because marriage normally cancels an existing Will. Think about all your children, including any from earlier relationships, and any stepchildren, because stepchildren are not treated as your children unless you name them. Note anyone who depends on you financially.
What you own, and how you own it.
A rough idea of what your estate is worth, and what it consists of: your home and any other property, savings, investments, business interests and anything overseas. Equally important is how you own things, particularly whether your home is owned jointly and on what basis, because that decides whether your Will can deal with it at all. Mortgages and significant debts matter too.
Things that may pass outside your Will.
Pensions, life insurance, death-in-service benefits and anything held in trust often have their own rules about who receives them. It is worth knowing what you have and who you have nominated.
Who you want to appoint.
Your executors, a substitute, guardians for any young children, and trustees if anyone is going to inherit through a trust.
Who should benefit, and how.
Any particular items or sums of money you want to give to particular people, and how everything else (your residuary estate) should be divided. Also think about any charities.
The “what if” questions.
What should happen if a beneficiary dies before you? If you and your partner die together? At what age should young people inherit? Should anyone’s share be protected rather than paid to them outright?
Tax and care.
Whether your estate might be large enough for Inheritance Tax to matter, and whether you are concerned about the cost of care in later life.
Your existing arrangements.
Any earlier Will or Codicil, and any documents showing how your home is owned, if you have them.
Leaving gifts: the different ways your estate can pass
There are three basic ways to leave something in a Will, and the difference between them matters more than people expect.
A specific gift is a particular item: a ring, a car, a named property, or a holding of shares. If you no longer own that item when you die, the gift simply fails, and the beneficiary receives nothing in its place unless your Will says otherwise.
A cash gift (lawyers call it a pecuniary legacy) is a fixed sum of money, such as £5,000 to a godchild. Cash gifts are normally paid before the remainder of the estate is shared out.
Your residuary estate is everything left after debts, expenses, tax and any specific and cash gifts. For most people this is by far the largest part of their estate, so how it is divided is usually the most important decision in the Will.
The difference between fixed sums and shares is a good example of why the structure matters. Suppose you leave £50,000 to each of two friends and the rest to your children. That works while your estate is large. But if your estate shrinks, perhaps through care costs in later life, the friends still receive their fixed sums first and your children may receive far less than you intended. Leaving percentages of the residue instead keeps everyone’s share in proportion, whatever happens to the estate’s value.
Gifts to children and grandchildren need particular thought. Someone under 18 cannot legally receive an inheritance directly, so it has to be held for them, and you may prefer them not to receive it at 18 at all. Gifts to UK charities are free of Inheritance Tax, and leaving at least 10% of your net estate to charity can reduce the rate of tax on the rest.
Why “everything to my children equally” is only the start
This is one of the most common instructions in Will writing, and it sounds complete. In practice it leaves several questions open:
- If one of your children dies before you, should their share go to their own children, or be divided among your other children?
- Do you mean only your own children, or stepchildren too?
- Should a child who is vulnerable, in debt or going through a divorce receive their share outright?
- At what age should a grandchild receive a share that passes down to them?
- Has one child already received substantial help from you during your lifetime that you want to take into account?
None of these questions is unusual. All of them have answers, but the answers need to be written into the Will rather than assumed.
Why “the house to my partner, then the children” needs more thought
This instruction is even more common, and it hides an important choice.
If you leave your share of the home to your partner outright, it becomes theirs. They are then free to leave it to whoever they choose. If they remarry, their new marriage would normally cancel their existing Will, and if they need residential care, it counts as their asset. For many couples that is exactly right, because they trust each other completely. Others, particularly where there are children from earlier relationships, want a guarantee that their share eventually reaches their own children.
That guarantee usually requires a trust, under which your partner can live in the home for life but cannot leave your share elsewhere. A trust brings its own consequences, including less flexibility for your partner. And none of it works if your home is owned in a way that passes it to your partner automatically, regardless of your Will.
What happens if a beneficiary dies before you?
Clients often know exactly who they want to benefit, but have not considered what should happen if that person dies first. It matters because, as a general rule, a gift to someone who dies before you fails, or “lapses”. A specific or cash gift that lapses falls back into your residuary estate. If part of the residue itself fails and the Will does not say where it should go instead, that part can pass under the intestacy rules, which is the outcome the Will was meant to avoid.
There is one important statutory exception in England and Wales. If you leave a gift to your child or grandchild (or a more remote descendant) and they die before you leaving children of their own, the gift normally passes to those children instead, unless your Will shows a different intention. But it is a safety net, not a plan:
- it does not apply to gifts to anyone other than your own descendants, such as a partner, a sibling, a friend or a stepchild
- it may produce a result you did not want, such as a young grandchild inheriting outright
- whether your Will shows a “different intention” can itself become a matter of argument
A well-drafted Will says expressly what should happen in each foreseeable situation, rather than leaving it to a default rule. That includes a clear long-stop: who inherits if every beneficiary you have named has died before you.
A related question is what happens if you and your partner die together, or within a short time of each other. Without the right provisions, the order of deaths can decide which family inherits, and assets can pass through two estates and be exposed to tax and costs twice.
Types of Will: what the labels really mean
You will see Wills described as Basic, Single, Mirror or Trust Wills. These are useful descriptions, but they are not separate legal categories. The law recognises just one kind of Will, and every Will must meet the same requirements to be valid. The labels describe what a Will contains, and who it is for.
Basic Will
Who it suits: people whose wishes are straightforward, such as leaving everything to a partner and then to children, or to children equally.
What it usually contains: executors, guardians if needed, any particular gifts, and how the rest of the estate is divided, with sensible substitutes.
When it may not be enough: where you want to control what happens after your partner inherits, protect a vulnerable beneficiary or plan for tax.
Mirror Wills
Who they suit: couples, married or not, who want broadly the same arrangements, typically everything to each other and then to their children.
What they are: two separate Wills, one for each partner, drafted in similar terms. They need not be identical, and individual provisions can differ considerably.
The important point: each Will remains entirely independent. Either partner can change or replace their own Will at any time without telling the other, and the survivor is free to rewrite theirs after the first death. Mirror Wills do not bind anyone to keep the arrangement. If you need that certainty, a trust is usually the answer.
Trust Wills
What the term means: any Will that leaves some or all of the estate in trust, so that trustees hold it for one or more beneficiaries rather than handing it over outright. It describes many different arrangements, not one product.
Reasons for including a trust:
- letting a partner live in the home for life while preserving your share for your children
- holding money for children or grandchildren until a sensible age
- protecting an inheritance for someone vulnerable, disabled, in debt or at risk of divorce
- giving trustees flexibility to decide who needs help most
The important point: a trust is a tool for a particular objective. It is not automatically better, and the right structure depends on what you want to achieve.
Not actually Wills
Several documents are often grouped with Wills but are not Wills at all:
- A Codicil is a formal amendment to an existing Will.
- A Letter of Wishes sits alongside a Will to guide your executors and trustees. It is not legally binding.
- A Notice of Severance changes how a jointly owned property is held, so that your share can pass under your Will.
- A Living Will, properly called an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment, records decisions about medical treatment during your lifetime. It has nothing to do with your estate.
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Your home: why the way you own it matters
For most people the home is the most valuable thing they own. Whether your Will can deal with it depends on how it is owned.
- In your sole name: it forms part of your estate and passes under your Will.
- Jointly, as joint tenants: on your death your share passes automatically to the surviving joint owner. This happens outside your Will, so whatever your Will says about the house has no effect on it.
- Jointly, as tenants in common: each owner has a distinct share, and your share passes under your Will.
Many couples own their home as joint tenants, rather than as tenants in common, without realising it. For some that is exactly what they want. But if you want your share to go to your children, or into a trust, a joint tenancy will defeat your Will. It has to be changed during your lifetime, usually by serving a Notice of Severance. A Will cannot do this on its own.
Two further points are easily missed. A gift of a property in a Will normally carries its mortgage with it, unless the Will says otherwise. And joint bank accounts usually pass to the surviving account holder in the same way as a joint tenancy.
What a Will does not control
People often assume that everything they own passes under their Will. Much of it does, but some important assets usually follow their own rules:
- Property and accounts held as joint tenants pass to the surviving owner, as explained above.
- Most pension death benefits are paid at the discretion of the scheme, guided by your nomination (sometimes called an expression of wish), not by your Will.
- Life insurance written in trust is paid to the trust’s beneficiaries, not under your Will.
- Death-in-service benefits from an employer are usually paid under the scheme’s own rules.
- Assets already held in a trust, including a trust set up by someone else under which you benefit.
- Business interests may be governed by a shareholders’ or partnership agreement that overrides what your Will says.
- Property abroad may be subject to the law of the country where it is, including rules that reserve shares for particular relatives. Where you own property abroad, a separate Will in that country is usually advisable.
- Some digital assets and online accounts are governed by the provider’s terms, which may limit what can be passed on.
So your Will and these other arrangements should be reviewed together. A nomination form completed fifteen years ago can easily send a large pension to the wrong person.
Can a Will reduce Inheritance Tax?
A Will cannot make tax disappear, but its structure can make a real difference to how much is paid. The main allowances are:
- The nil rate band: the first £325,000 of an estate is normally free of tax.
- The residence nil rate band: up to a further £175,000 where your home, or your share of it, passes to your direct descendants, such as children or grandchildren (including stepchildren). It is gradually withdrawn for estates over £2 million.
- The spouse and civil partner exemption: what passes to a husband, wife or civil partner is usually free of tax, and any unused allowances can be passed to the survivor. That is how a married couple or civil partners can pass on up to £1 million between them without tax.
- Gifts to charity are exempt, and leaving at least 10% of your net estate to charity reduces the rate on the rest from 40% to 36%.
Both nil rate bands are frozen at their current levels until April 2031.
How you write your Will affects how these allowances apply. Unmarried partners do not benefit from the spouse exemption at all, so a large gift between them can be taxable. Some trusts qualify for the residence nil rate band and others do not. And from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds will count towards the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax, which will bring many more estates into tax for the first time.
Can a Will protect your assets from care home fees?
This is one of the most misunderstood areas of estate planning, so it is worth being precise.
A Will cannot protect your own assets from the cost of your own care. Your Will has no effect until you die, so while you are alive your savings and your home remain yours and can be taken into account if you need residential care.
What a Will can do is decide what happens to your assets when you die. That matters for couples. If you leave everything outright to your husband, wife or partner, it becomes theirs, and it counts towards their means test if they later need care. If instead your share of the home is left in a suitable trust, your partner can continue to live there, but your share does not belong to them, and it is generally not counted as their capital.
This only works if your share passes under your Will at all, which depends on how the home is owned. And care fee rules contain provisions against “deliberate deprivation”, aimed at people who give away their own assets to avoid paying for care. Planning in your Will for what happens to your own estate is different from giving away assets during your lifetime, but timing and circumstances still matter, and nobody can honestly guarantee the outcome of a future care assessment.
Providing for a vulnerable or disabled beneficiary
Leaving money outright is not always the kindest thing to do. An inheritance paid directly to someone who receives means-tested benefits can reduce or stop those benefits until it is spent. Someone who lacks the capacity to manage money may need a court-appointed deputy before they can use it. And someone who is easily influenced, struggling with addiction or debt, or going through a divorce may lose it quickly.
A trust in your Will, managed by trustees you choose, can provide for that person throughout their life without the money being treated as theirs outright. The right kind of trust depends on the beneficiary’s circumstances. A Letter of Wishes can then explain to your trustees how you would like them to help.
Making sure your Will is legally valid
A Will that is not validly made is no Will at all. In England and Wales:
- you must be 18 or over
- you must have the mental capacity to make a Will: you need to understand what a Will is, have a broad idea of what you own, and appreciate who might reasonably expect to benefit
- you must understand and approve what the Will says, and make it of your own free will, without pressure from anyone else
- the Will must be in writing, and signed by you (or by someone else in your presence and at your direction)
- you must sign, or acknowledge your signature, in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the same time
- each witness must then sign in your presence
A Will cannot be signed electronically, and a video call no longer counts as being present. The temporary rule allowing witnessing by video ended on 31 January 2024.
The most common and avoidable mistakes are about the witnesses. A witness, or a witness’s husband, wife or civil partner, should never be a beneficiary, because their gift will fail. Witnesses should be independent adults who can be traced later if a question ever arises.
Two further points cause problems in practice. Writing on a signed Will, or crossing something out, does not change it and can create doubt about the whole document. And where age or illness could raise any question about capacity, it is wise to obtain a medical opinion at the time the Will is made, because that evidence is very hard to obtain afterwards.
Can a Will be challenged?
There are two very different kinds of challenge.
A challenge to the Will’s validity argues that it should not be followed at all, because the person lacked capacity, did not understand or approve its contents, was unduly influenced, or did not sign it properly. If the challenge succeeds, an earlier Will or the intestacy rules apply instead.
A claim for reasonable financial provision accepts the Will is valid but argues that it does not make reasonable provision for the claimant. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, such claims can be brought by a spouse or civil partner, a former spouse who has not remarried, a partner who lived with you for the two years before your death, your children of any age, someone you treated as a child of your family, and anyone you were maintaining. Claims must normally be made within six months of the grant of probate.
England and Wales allow you to leave your estate to whoever you choose, so excluding someone is possible. But it is never risk-free. Careful instructions, clear drafting and a record of your reasons make a successful challenge much less likely.
When should you review or change your Will?
There is no legal requirement to update your Will after a set number of years, and a Will does not expire. Official guidance suggests reviewing it about every five years, which is sensible, but some events change the legal position immediately.
- Marriage or civil partnership normally cancels an existing Will completely, unless it was made expressly in expectation of that particular marriage or civil partnership. Many people do not discover this until it is too late.
- Divorce or dissolution does not cancel a Will. Instead, your former spouse or civil partner is treated as if they had died on the date of the final order, so they lose any gift and any appointment as executor or trustee, unless your Will says otherwise. Any appointment of them as guardian is normally cancelled too.
- Separation changes nothing. Until a final order is made, a separated husband, wife or civil partner keeps everything your Will gives them, and would still inherit under the intestacy rules if you had no Will.
Other good reasons to review your Will include:
- the birth of a child or grandchild
- the death of a beneficiary, executor or guardian
- a new relationship, or a relationship ending
- buying or selling a property, or a significant change in your assets
- starting or selling a business
- a beneficiary becoming vulnerable or ill
- substantial gifts made during your lifetime
- changes in tax law, such as the inclusion of pensions in Inheritance Tax from April 2027
Codicil or new Will?
A Codicil is a formal amendment to an existing Will, such as replacing an executor or adding a small gift. It must be signed and witnessed in the same way as a Will. For anything more substantial, a new Will that revokes the old one is usually clearer and safer, especially where several Codicils would otherwise have to be read together.
What you must never do is write changes on the original Will. Alterations made after signing are generally ineffective, and they can cast doubt on the rest of the document.
Common misconceptions about Wills
There are a number of issues where many people assume that a particular state of affairs must be the case, when in fact it is not. These include: –
“My husband or wife automatically gets everything.”
Not if you have children and your estate exceeds £322,000. Without a Will, your children would share in part of it.
“My partner is treated as my spouse.”
An unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit at all, however long you have been together.
“My children can sort it out between them.”
Without a Will, the law decides who is in charge and who inherits. Any informal agreement depends on everyone agreeing, and on any child under 18 being protected.
“My Will controls everything I own.”
Jointly owned property, pensions, policies in trust and some business interests may pass outside it.
“Mirror Wills mean neither of us can change our Will.”
Each Will is independent, and either partner can change theirs at any time.
“If I write my wishes down and sign them, that is enough.”
Without two witnesses present at the same time, the document is not a valid Will.
“I made a Will years ago, so I’m covered.”
If you have married since, it has probably been cancelled. Even if not, it may no longer reflect your family, your assets or the law.
“I can leave someone out and they can do nothing about it.”
Certain people can still bring a claim against your estate, although careful planning can reduce the risk of this.
“Putting funeral wishes in my Will guarantees they will be followed.”
Funeral wishes are not legally binding, and the Will may not be read in time.
When professional advice matters most
Many Wills are straightforward. But professional advice becomes particularly valuable if any of the following apply to you:
- you live with a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership
- you have children from more than one relationship, or you have remarried
- you want to protect a vulnerable, disabled or financially at-risk beneficiary
- you are estranged from someone who might expect to inherit, or you want to leave someone out
- you own a business, rental properties or property abroad
- your estate may be liable to Inheritance Tax, or you are concerned about care costs
- you and others own property in different ways
- there is any question about capacity, or a risk that family members could challenge your Will
- you want gifts to pass down several generations if beneficiaries die before you
In these situations, the difference between a Will that records your wishes and one that achieves them can be very large.
If any of these apply to you, I can talk through your circumstances and explain your options before you decide anything.
What happens at a Will appointment with me
A good Will appointment is a conversation, not dictation. You do not need to take part with the wording already worked out. That is my job.
We start with what you want to achieve and who you want to look after. I then ask the follow-up questions: what should happen if your first plan cannot work, how your home and other assets are owned, and whether anyone you want to benefit needs protection. I explain your options in plain English, including whether a straightforward Will is all you need. Often it is, and I will tell you so.
Once your decisions are made, I prepare the Will myself and send it to you within 7 days of receiving everything I need from you. I also explain how to sign it correctly, and make sure that it is witnessed properly, so it is valid. Your fee is fixed and agreed before any drafting begins.
How Wise Owl Wills can help
Wise Owl Wills prepares Wills, from Basic Wills and Mirror Wills for couples to Wills containing trusts. I also prepare Codicils, Letters of Wishes, Notices of Severance, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Living Wills.
Every Will is prepared personally by me, Stephen Rhodes. I was called to the Bar in 1999, and you deal with me directly from the first conversation to the finished Will.
- Free home visits across Greater Manchester, or a telephone or video appointment wherever you live.
- Your documents within 7 days of my receiving everything I need from you.
- Fixed fees, agreed before any drafting begins, with no hidden costs.
Clear, fixed fees for Wills, LPAs and Living Wills
Know exactly what your chosen service will cost before going ahead. Every fee is explained and agreed upfront, with no hidden charges.
Will-writing fees
Choose the Will that provides the right protection for you and your family. Every Will is personally prepared for your circumstances, with clear guidance and a fixed fee agreed before drafting begins.
Additional Will-planning services
Add only the supporting documents your plans require, with each additional service clearly priced in advance.
Ready to make your Will?
Book a free, no-obligation consultation, or call me on 0161 524 1033. I will explain your options and agree a fixed fee before you decide anything.
Frequently Asked Questions about making a Will
Do I need a Will if I don’t own a house?
Yes, in most cases. A Will is not only about property. It appoints your executors and guardians for any children, and it decides who receives your savings, belongings and any life insurance not written in trust. Without a Will, those decisions are made by the intestacy rules.
Do I need a solicitor to make a Will?
No. The law does not require a Will to be prepared by a solicitor or by any particular kind of professional. What matters is that the Will is properly thought through, correctly drafted for your circumstances and validly signed and witnessed.
Can my partner and I make one joint Will?
Couples in England and Wales normally make two separate Wills, often as Mirror Wills, rather than one joint document. Each partner’s Will can then deal with their own estate, and each can be updated independently.
How many executors should I appoint?
Two is common, with at least one substitute. You can name more, but no more than four can apply to deal with your estate at the same time.
Can my executor witness my Will?
An executor can act as a witness, provided they are not also a beneficiary. A witness, or a witness’s husband, wife or civil partner, should never benefit under the Will, because their gift would fail. Independent witnesses are always the safer choice.
Can I leave someone out of my Will?
Yes. In England and Wales you can leave your estate to whoever you choose. However, certain people, including children, spouses and partners who lived with you, can apply to court for reasonable financial provision. If you plan to exclude someone, take advice on reducing the risk of a claim.
Can I leave money to grandchildren, including those not yet born?
Yes. A gift can be made to a group, such as “my grandchildren”, which can include grandchildren born after the Will is made. Because children under 18 cannot receive an inheritance directly, it will need to be held for them, and you can choose a later age at which they inherit.
Can I leave money to charity in my Will?
Yes. Gifts to UK charities are free of Inheritance Tax, and leaving at least 10% of your net estate to charity reduces the rate of tax on the rest of your estate from 40% to 36%. The charity should be identified precisely, ideally with its registered charity number.
If I get married, do I need a new Will?
Usually, yes. In England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership normally cancels any existing Will, unless the Will was made expressly in expectation of that particular marriage or civil partnership.
What happens to my Will if I separate or divorce?
Separation alone has no effect. Your Will stays exactly as it is until a final divorce or dissolution order is made. Your former spouse or civil partner is then treated as having died on that date, so they lose any gift and any role as executor, unless your Will says otherwise. Review your Will as soon as you separate.
Do I need a new Will if I move house?
Not usually, as long as your Will does not name the specific property. A Will that leaves your home by address may need updating, and the way you own the new property could affect whether your Will can deal with it.
Can I make my Will by telephone or video appointment?
Yes. Your instructions can be taken by telephone or video call, and the Will can be posted to you. It must still be signed on paper in the physical presence of two witnesses, because video witnessing is no longer permitted.
Where should I keep my original Will?
Somewhere safe, dry and known to your executors. Your executors will need the signed original, so make sure they know where it is. Never unstaple it or attach anything to it, because marks on a Will can raise questions about whether it has been altered.
Does a Will ever expire?
No. A Will remains valid until you revoke it, replace it, or it is cancelled by marriage or civil partnership. But a Will made many years ago may no longer reflect your family, your assets or current tax rules.
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