Making a will in England and Wales: what makes it valid and how to change it
Published · 6 min read · Figures checked . UK rules and rates change, so check the official sources below before you act.
A will sets out who receives your money, property and possessions after you die. This guide explains what makes one legally valid in England and Wales, how marriage and divorce affect it, and how changes are made.
What a will does and why it matters
A will is a legal document in which you say what should happen to your money, property and possessions when you die. It lets you name the people or charities who are to receive them, who should look after any children under 18, and who will carry out your wishes. The people who do that job are called executors: they collect what you own, deal with the paperwork, pay any debts, taxes and costs, and then hand over the gifts. GOV.UK also notes that making a will can help you avoid paying more Inheritance Tax than necessary. Without a valid will, the law decides who inherits through a fixed set of rules known as intestacy, and the result may not match what you would have chosen.
Citizens Advice points out one situation where this matters a great deal: unmarried partners, and partners who have not registered a civil partnership, cannot inherit from each other under the intestacy rules, so a surviving partner can be left in financial difficulty if there is no will. This guide covers England and Wales only: Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules, and GOV.UK links to Citizens Advice Scotland and nidirect for those. It is general information, not advice on your own circumstances.
What makes a will legally valid
GOV.UK sets out the requirements as follows. The person making the will must be 18 or over, must make it voluntarily and must be of sound mind, meaning they understand what they own and what they are signing. It must be in writing. It must then be signed in front of two witnesses who are both over 18. The person making the will and both witnesses must sign the same document, each witness must have a clear view of the will-maker signing, and the will-maker must have a clear view of each witness signing. The witnesses do not have to sign at the same moment as one another. If someone cannot sign for themselves, another person can sign on their behalf. Citizens Advice adds that dating the will is not strictly required for validity but is advised.
There is an important rule about who may act as a witness. GOV.UK says you cannot leave anything in your will to a witness, or to a witness's married partner. Citizens Advice explains the effect: the will itself stays valid, but the beneficiary who witnessed it, or whose spouse or civil partner witnessed it, cannot inherit under it. The simple way to avoid this is to choose witnesses who are not beneficiaries and are not married to one.
- Aged 18 or over, acting voluntarily and of sound mind.
- In writing, signed in front of two witnesses aged over 18, who also sign.
- Witnesses should not be beneficiaries, or married to one.
A worked example of the witness rule
Here is an illustrative example, with made-up figures. Suppose someone leaves an estate worth £90,000 to be shared equally between their three children, so each share is £90,000 divided by 3, which is £30,000. One child's husband acts as a witness when the will is signed. Because a witness's married partner cannot benefit, that child cannot take the £30,000 share under the will, even though the document as a whole remains valid. What happens to that share then depends on the rest of the wording, which is exactly the kind of gap that careful drafting is meant to prevent.
How marriage, divorce and civil partnership affect a will
GOV.UK says that getting married cancels any will you made before the marriage. Section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 sets out the rule and its exceptions: a will is not cancelled if it shows it was made expecting a marriage to a particular person and was meant to survive that marriage, and there are narrower exceptions for some gifts. This is why people who marry are often advised to make a new will at around the same time.
Divorce works differently. Under section 18A of the Wills Act 1837, if a court in England and Wales ends a marriage after a will is made, the will stays in place but the former spouse is treated as having died on the date the marriage ended. Gifts to them and any appointment of them as executor or trustee take effect as if they had died then, unless the will shows a different intention. That means a will that left everything to a spouse may need rewriting after a divorce, because the gift will fail and the property may go to whoever the will names next, or under intestacy if nobody is named. The former spouse can still apply for financial provision from the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Changing a will, storing it and getting help
GOV.UK says a will can be changed in two ways. A small change can be made by an official alteration called a codicil, which must be signed and witnessed in the same way as the will itself, and there is no limit on how many you can add. For major changes, it is usually cleaner to make a new will that states it revokes all previous wills and codicils, and to destroy the old one. Citizens Advice cautions against altering a signed will by hand, because obvious alterations are presumed to have been made later and do not form part of the valid will. GOV.UK suggests a review every 5 years, and after events such as separation or divorce, having a child, moving house or the death of a named executor.
Citizens Advice says you can write your own will, but that this is advisable only where your affairs are straightforward. Common do-it-yourself mistakes include unwitnessed changes, overlooking an asset and not planning for a beneficiary who dies first. It lists situations where a solicitor is particularly worth considering, such as sharing a home with someone who is not a spouse or civil partner, providing for a dependant who cannot look after themselves, expecting family disagreement, owning a business, or holding property overseas. It also notes that many will-writing firms are not regulated. Lower-cost options it lists include trade union services, Will Aid in November and Free Wills Month, for people aged 55 or over.
Check before you act
Rules, fees and schemes can change, and your own circumstances may differ from the general picture described here. It can be worth confirming the details on the official pages linked below, and checking with a solicitor or Citizens Advice if your situation is not straightforward.
Sources
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