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TL;DR:
- You can create a simple, legally valid will yourself if you follow the formalities set out in the Wills Act 1837.
- For complex situations involving property, dependants, or overseas assets, seeking professional legal advice is safer.
You can draft a legally valid will yourself if your estate is straightforward, but you must follow the precise formalities set out in the Wills Act 1837 or the document is worthless. For anything involving property shared with an unmarried partner, overseas assets, a business, or dependants who need special provision, a solicitor is the safer choice. The GOV.UK guidance on making a will is clear: get professional advice when the situation is not straightforward.
Three formalities that make a will valid in England and Wales:
Immediate next steps to get started today:
Read on for the complete drafting checklist, example clause summaries, and clear guidance on when to instruct a solicitor such as Ali Legal Ltd.
The route you choose affects cost, legal protection, and the risk of errors. Here is a direct comparison.
| Option | Typical cost range | Pros | Cons | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY template | — | Free or very low cost; fast | High risk of imprecise wording or invalid execution; no professional check | Simple estate: one property, married, no business or overseas assets |
| Online or paid will-writing service | — | Guided process; often quicker than a solicitor | Will writers are not regulated by law; protection varies by membership body | Moderately simple estate; check membership of the Institute of Professional Willwriters or Society of Will Writers |
| Solicitor | — | Fully regulated; mandatory professional indemnity insurance; legally binding advice | Higher cost; appointment needed | Blended families, business assets, overseas property, vulnerable dependants, or any doubt about capacity |
The regulatory gap between solicitors and will writers matters more than most people realise. Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and carry mandatory professional indemnity insurance. Will writers who belong to self-regulatory bodies such as the Institute of Professional Willwriters or the Society of Will Writers have some consumer protection, but membership is voluntary and the bodies have no statutory enforcement powers. GOV.UK’s guidance on will-writing services sets out exactly what to check before instructing anyone outside a regulated law firm.
Costs rise sharply when the estate includes trusts for minor beneficiaries, overseas property, or business interests. A solicitor who needs to draft a discretionary trust alongside a will may charge considerably more than the simple-will rate above.
Pro Tip: Match your household complexity to the right option before you spend anything. One property, married, adult children, no business? A guided online service with a reputable membership body may be adequate. Unmarried partner, shared mortgage, or a child with a disability? Go straight to a solicitor.
Three things determine whether a will is valid: testamentary capacity, intention, and correct execution. Get any one of them wrong and the document fails, leaving your estate to pass under intestacy rules that almost certainly do not reflect your wishes.
Capacity and intention mean you must be aged 18 or over, acting voluntarily, and of sound mind when you sign. “Sound mind” in legal terms means you understand the nature of making a will, the extent of your estate, who might expect to benefit, and the effect of the document. If there is any doubt — because of dementia, serious illness, or recent cognitive decline — Age UK recommends obtaining a contemporaneous medical statement from the treating clinician confirming the testator understood the document at signing. That single step can prevent a successful challenge years later.
Formal execution is governed by section 9 of the Wills Act 1837. The will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by someone else in their presence and at their direction), and that signature must be made or acknowledged in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the same time. Each witness then signs in the testator’s presence. The GOV.UK formalities page adds that witnesses and their spouses or civil partners cannot benefit under the will — if they are named as beneficiaries, the gift to them is void, though the rest of the will stands.
Common execution mistakes include: signing only the last page while leaving earlier pages unsigned, using a beneficiary or their spouse as a witness, witnesses signing at different times or in different rooms, and leaving blank pages that could later be disputed. LexisNexis UK’s practitioner guidance notes that validity checks after death also cover revocation: marriage or civil partnership automatically revokes an earlier will in England and Wales, so a will made before a wedding needs to be remade afterwards.
Signing procedure checklist:
Scotland and Northern Ireland: Scotland operates under different rules. The Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995 governs execution, and a will is valid with just one witness (or none, if the testator signs each page). Northern Ireland follows broadly similar rules to England and Wales but under its own legislation. If you are domiciled in Scotland, the Scotland Claims inheritance guidance is a useful starting point for understanding how claims work under Scots law.
A will that cannot be found when needed is almost as bad as no will at all. Storage is not an afterthought.
The most common mistake is keeping the only signed original in a bank safe-deposit box. The Law Society warns that a sealed box often cannot be opened until probate is granted — which requires the will to be produced first. That circular problem can delay the entire estate administration. Safer options are: your solicitor’s strongroom, a specialist will-storage company, or formal deposit with the Probate Service.
Depositing with the Probate Service is a formal option that costs a small fee and creates an official record. GOV.UK explains the deposit process in detail: you send the original will to the Principal Registry of the Family Division, which issues a certificate of deposit. Executors can then search the national will register to locate it after death, which removes the risk of the document being lost or destroyed.
Codicils versus making a new will: a codicil is a separate signed and witnessed document that amends a specific clause without replacing the whole will. Use one for minor changes — updating an executor’s address, adding a small gift. For anything more substantial (a new beneficiary, a change to the residuary estate, a new guardian), make a fresh will and expressly revoke all previous ones. Executing a codicil follows the same formalities as the original will: in writing, signed, two witnesses present simultaneously.
Steps for executors after the testator’s death:
Tell your executor where the original is kept, and give them a copy for reference. That single conversation prevents weeks of searching at an already difficult time.
Not all will-writing services are equal, and the difference between a well-drafted will and a poorly drafted one only becomes apparent at probate — when it is too late to fix.
Questions to ask any prospective will writer or solicitor:
Red flags to watch for:
What drives fees higher:
For a genuinely simple estate — one property, married, adult children, no overseas assets — a guided online service may be adequate. For everything else, the risk of getting it wrong outweighs the cost of professional advice.
The Law Society is direct: professional legal advice is strongly recommended when you have overseas property, business ownership, shared property with an unmarried partner, dependants who cannot look after themselves, or complex family structures. These are not edge cases. They describe a large proportion of UK adults.
Situations where a solicitor is strongly advisable:
Unmarried cohabiting partners have no automatic right to inherit under intestacy rules. If you live with a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership, a will is not optional — it is the only way to ensure they inherit anything. Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the survivor, but everything else does not.
Blended families — where one or both partners have children from previous relationships — create competing claims that a poorly worded will can inflame. A solicitor can draft a life interest trust that protects a surviving spouse while preserving the children’s eventual inheritance.
Business owners need to consider business property relief, succession planning, and whether the will coordinates with any shareholders’ agreement or partnership deed. A will that ignores those documents can trigger a forced sale of the business.
Where capacity may be in doubt, Age UK’s guidance recommends a contemporaneous medical statement from the treating clinician. A solicitor experienced in this area will know how to obtain and record that evidence properly.
Pro Tip: Ask for a written, fixed-fee estimate before instructing anyone. A reputable solicitor will give you one. If the answer is “it depends” with no further detail, keep looking.
Ali Legal Ltd’s practice in wills, trusts and probate sits alongside its work in property, corporate law, and cross-border matters — which means the firm regularly handles estates where those areas overlap. A client with a buy-to-let portfolio, a shareholding in a private company, and a property abroad needs a will that accounts for all three, and that requires a solicitor who understands each asset class.
The firm’s approach centres on fixed fees where the scope is clear, plain-language advice, and drafting that anticipates practical problems rather than just recording wishes. For clients with cross-border assets, Ali Legal Ltd’s international practice means the will can be considered alongside any foreign succession rules that may apply.
What to bring to an initial appointment:
Readers who want a document review of an existing will, or who need a will drafted from scratch, can contact Ali Legal Ltd to discuss the scope and obtain a fee estimate.
Drafting a will that actually works — one that passes probate without dispute, distributes assets as intended, and accounts for tax — is harder than filling in a template. Ali Legal Ltd offers a fixed-fee will drafting service for individuals and families, covering straightforward wills through to complex estates with trusts, overseas property, and business interests.
The service covers initial drafting, trust advice where needed, inheritance tax considerations, and ongoing probate support for executors. Clients with property, business assets, or family situations that go beyond the simple are the ones who benefit most from instructing a regulated solicitor rather than relying on a generic template.
For a clear, written fee estimate with no obligation, contact Ali Legal Ltd directly or visit the wills, trusts and probate service page to start the conversation.
This article provides general information about making a will in the UK and does not constitute legal advice. Confirm current rules and your personal position with a qualified solicitor before acting.
For Scotland: the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995 governs execution, and succession rights differ materially from English law. Scottish readers should consult a Scottish solicitor and may find the Scotland Claims inheritance guidance a useful orientation. For Northern Ireland: the rules broadly follow England and Wales but under separate legislation; check with a Northern Ireland solicitor for jurisdiction-specific advice.
Most people who draft their own will get the formalities right. The problem is rarely the signature or the witnesses. It is the wording.
A will that says “I leave my house to my children equally” sounds clear. It is not. What if one child has died? What if the property is in negative equity? What if one child has already received a substantial gift during your lifetime — does that count? A solicitor does not just write down what you say. They ask the questions you did not know to ask, and they draft clauses that hold up when the answers to those questions become disputed.
The other thing people underestimate is the interaction between a will and other legal documents. A shareholders’ agreement can override a will for business assets. A pension nomination form operates entirely outside the will. Joint tenancy means property passes by survivorship, not by the will at all. None of these are obscure technicalities. They affect a significant proportion of UK adults, and a template will does not address any of them.
The conventional wisdom is that a simple will is fine for a simple estate. That is true. The difficulty is that most people overestimate how simple their estate actually is.
