How to Write a Will in the UK

In England and Wales, you can write your own will, but the finished document is only useful if it says clearly who should administer and inherit your estate and is signed using the legal witnessing procedure. A good will covers executors, beneficiaries, substitute gifts, the remainder of the estate and, where relevant, guardians for children. The signing is not an administrative afterthought: getting it wrong can leave the will invalid.

This guide covers England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different succession rules and formalities, so use advice written for the nation whose law applies to you.

Before writing: decide whether DIY is appropriate

A simple DIY or template-based will may be suitable where the estate and family circumstances are straightforward. GOV.UK specifically recommends professional advice where a will is not straightforward. That includes situations where you:

• share property with somebody who is not your spouse or civil partner;
• have children from an earlier relationship or relatives who may make competing claims;
• want to provide for somebody who cannot manage their own affairs;
• own a business, agricultural assets or property abroad;
• are permanently resident outside the UK or have cross-border connections;
• want to create a trust, protect a disabled beneficiary or plan around a potentially taxable estate; or
• expect any concern about mental capacity or pressure from another person.

A solicitor costs more than a blank template but creates a record of the instructions, capacity checks and advice. That evidence can be valuable if the will is later disputed. Compare the routes in our will cost guide and read GOV.UK's situations requiring legal advice.

Step 1: list the estate and check how assets are owned

Start with a private working list of property, accounts, investments, pensions, insurance, valuable possessions, digital assets and debts. This is not necessarily copied word for word into the will; it helps you see what the document needs to deal with and whether inheritance tax or specialist advice may matter.

Ownership is crucial. A home owned as joint tenants normally passes automatically to the surviving joint owner and not under the will. A share owned as tenants in common can normally pass under a will. Pension and life-insurance payments may also be governed by nominations or trust arrangements instead of the will. Check our joint property guide before promising an asset that may not form part of the estate.

Step 2: choose executors and backups

Executors identify assets and debts, deal with tax, apply for probate where needed, settle liabilities and distribute the estate. Choose people who are likely to be willing, organised and able to work together. You can appoint more than one and name substitutes in case a first choice dies or cannot act. An executor can also be a beneficiary.

Ask before naming somebody and tell them where the original will is stored. The role can last months and may involve personal liability if an estate is distributed incorrectly. Our executor duties guide explains what you are asking them to do.

Step 3: identify beneficiaries precisely

Use full names and explain relationships where that removes doubt. For organisations, use the correct legal name and registered charity number if relevant. Decide what should happen if a beneficiary dies before you: should their gift pass to their children, to another named person or fall into the rest of the estate?

Avoid using only informal labels such as “my partner” or “the children” where family circumstances could make the meaning uncertain. Unmarried partners do not inherit automatically under the intestacy rules in England and Wales, so naming them clearly matters.

Step 4: distinguish specific gifts from the residue

A will can make:

• specific gifts, such as an item, property or named investment;
• cash gifts, which can lose real value over time and may fail if the estate has insufficient money;
• charitable gifts, using the charity's formal details; and
• residuary gifts, covering everything left after debts, tax, administration costs and earlier gifts.

The residue clause is essential. Without a workable one, part of the estate can fall under intestacy even though a will exists. Think through backup beneficiaries for the residue as well as for individual gifts. If inheritance tax may be relevant, take advice before designing gifts around tax assumptions; see our inheritance tax guide.

Step 5: appoint guardians where appropriate

A parent with parental responsibility can use a will to appoint a testamentary guardian for a child under 18, but when that appointment takes effect depends on who else with parental responsibility survives. Discuss the choice with the proposed guardian, name a substitute and consider how money for the child should be held and managed. A guardian clause is not a substitute for advice where parental responsibility or family arrangements are complicated.

Read our fuller guide to appointing guardians in a will.

Step 6: make the document internally complete

The document should identify you, state that it is your will, revoke earlier wills where appropriate, appoint executors, set out gifts and deal with the residue. It should also cover replacements where a chosen executor or beneficiary cannot act or inherit. Do not copy isolated legal phrases from several different templates: definitions and clauses can depend on one another.

Funeral wishes can be included or kept in a separate letter, but they are generally wishes rather than binding directions and the will may not be read before a funeral. Keep practical instructions where family or executors can find them. Digital passwords should not be written into a will that may later become a public probate document; leave secure access instructions separately.

Step 7: follow the signing sequence exactly

GOV.UK's legal-will checklist says a will in England and Wales must be made voluntarily, by somebody aged 18 or over and of sound mind, be in writing, and be signed and witnessed correctly.

1. Use the final document. Do not leave intended gifts blank or plan to insert pages afterwards.
2. Have two witnesses aged over 18 present together with a clear view of you signing or acknowledging your signature.
3. Sign in the place provided while both witnesses can see the act.
4. Each witness then signs the same document in your presence and with you able to see them. GOV.UK says the witnesses do not have to sign at the same time as each other.
5. Complete the witness details carefully so the witnesses can be found if evidence is needed later.

Remote video witnessing was a temporary measure and should not be treated as the ordinary process now. The safest normal arrangement is for everybody to be physically present and to use the same pen, although the legal test is the proper presence and signature procedure.

Step 8: choose witnesses who receive nothing under the will

Do not use a beneficiary, or the spouse or civil partner of a beneficiary, as a witness. The will does not necessarily become wholly invalid, but the gift to that witness or their spouse or civil partner can fail. Independent adults with no gift under the document avoid the problem. An executor is not automatically barred from witnessing, but an executor who is also a beneficiary should not do so.

Witnesses are confirming the signature; they do not need to read the will or know its contents. Do not add handwritten changes after signing. A change needs the formal process for a codicil or, more cleanly for substantial changes, a properly executed replacement will.

Step 9: store the original so it can be found

Probate normally requires the original signed will, not just a scan. Keep it flat, dry and secure; avoid attaching items with staples or paperclips after execution because later marks or holes can raise questions about whether something is missing. Do not write on it.

GOV.UK says a will can be kept at home or stored with a solicitor, bank, specialist storage company or the national probate registry in Newcastle. Tell executors or a trusted person exactly where the original is held and how to retrieve it. There is no government “Wills Registration service”; private registration services and official Probate Service storage are different things.

Step 10: review after life and ownership changes

Review the will after marriage or civil partnership, divorce, separation, a birth or death, buying or selling property, starting a business, moving abroad or a material change in wealth. In England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership normally revokes an existing will unless it was made in contemplation of that specific marriage or partnership. Divorce does not simply erase the document; it changes how provisions for the former spouse or civil partner operate.

Do not amend the signed original with crossings-out or margin notes. For a small change, a codicil must follow the same signing and witnessing formalities. A new will is often clearer, and the old original should then be destroyed deliberately so competing documents are not found. See how to update or change a will.

Final will-writing checklist

• The document uses the law for the correct UK nation.
• Assets, debts, ownership and nominations have been checked.
• Executors and substitutes are named and willing.
• Beneficiaries, backup gifts and the residue are unambiguous.
• Guardian and trust questions have been considered where relevant.
• Two suitable independent adults witness the final document correctly.
• No beneficiary, or their spouse or civil partner, acts as a witness.
• The original is stored safely and executors know where it is.
• A review is triggered by major family, property or financial changes.

Official sources used for this guide

• GOV.UK: making a will
• GOV.UK: what to include and when to get legal advice
• GOV.UK: signing and witnessing a will

This is general information about the law in England and Wales, not personalised legal advice. Rules, thresholds and processes change, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules in places — for anything that depends on your own circumstances, it is worth speaking to a solicitor (ideally one accredited by STEP or Solicitors for the Elderly) or checking GOV.UK and Citizens Advice for current detail.