Legal Requirements for a Will

An article exploring the legal requirements for making a Will in the United Kingdom.

There are certain minimal legal requirements for a Will to be valid in the United Kingdom. The Will must be in writing but can be written on anything. The Will must also be signed by the person making the Will and it must be witnessed by two witnesses. There is no legal restriction on who can witness the Will but the law does state that if they are a beneficiary then any gifts to them will not be valid.

Beyond the legal requirements of a valid Will it is imperative to ensure that your Will is clear and accurate as the court can strike out any provisions that it finds unclear. You need to be specific in describing particular assets and beneficiaries so that they can be easily identified and traced. Beneficiaries should be named where possible or described in such a way that it is easy to identify who they will be, for example where you want to include a person’s possible future unborn children.

Some words that you may use may have particular meanings and you should ensure that you are using them appropriately. For example, ‘children’ includes illegitimate and adopted children, but not usually step children or grand children (unless there are only these alive at the date the Will is made). If a child dies before you do, a legacy to them will automatically pass to their children or grandchildren, unless you state to the contrary. Some words such as ‘family’ and ‘issue’ are vague and may have several meanings and should not be relied upon on their own. It is always advisable to name specific individuals wherever possible and to include sufficient detail about whom you want to benefit and when, to ensure that those who benefit are indeed whom you intended. If you are at all in doubt as to how to phrase any particular legacy, you should seek legal advice. You should also consider whether you want to include provisions limiting the liability of the executors and/or providing for a fee to be paid to them.

Various forms can be purchased showing how a Will should be laid out and detaling the information and standard clauses that should or might be included. You can also buy template Wills and may be interested in looking at our range of Will templates which are suitable for most people and which are provided as a standard single Will or Joint Will version.

Once you have drafted your Will, it must be validated. To do this, the Will must be signed at the bottom, by you, in the presence of two witnesses who can see you signing it. If you cannot sign yourself, you can either leave a mark, such as a cross, or direct that someone else sign it for you in front of yourself and the witnesses. A witness must be over eighteen and have full mental capacity. He or she must not be a beneficiary under the Will or the husband, wife or civil partner of a beneficiary or that beneficiary will lose his/her entitlement.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, two witnesses must also sign the Will, in your presence, after you have done so. This should be done below your signature and their names and addresses should be printed alongside their signatures. It is good practice, before you sign and date the end of the Will, for you and each witness to also sign and number the bottom of each page, so that it is clear that nothing has been added later on. It is also good practice to date the Will next to the signatures. If you need to make any alterations before signing, it is best to print off a clean copy, but if you cannot, any amendments should be initialled both by you and the witnesses. As soon as the Will is signed and witnessed, it is complete and you cannot change it apart from in accordance with a specific pocedure.