How to Write a Will in the UK: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

If you have decided it is time to make a will, congratulations — that decision alone puts you ahead of the roughly half of UK adults who have never got round to it. But knowing you need a will and knowing how to write one are two very different things.

This guide walks through exactly what is involved in making a will in the UK, from the decisions you need to make before you start, to the legal formalities that determine whether your will is valid at all.

Step 1: Take Stock of What You Own

Before you can decide who gets what, you need a clear picture of your estate — everything you own, minus anything you owe. This includes:

• Your home and any other property
• Savings, current accounts, and investments
• Pensions and life insurance policies
• Business interests
• Vehicles, jewellery, and other valuable possessions
• Outstanding debts, such as mortgages or loans

You do not need exact figures, but a rough total helps you and your will writer think sensibly about gifts, tax, and whether trusts might be worthwhile.

Step 2: Decide Who Your Beneficiaries Will Be

This is the heart of your will — who should inherit your estate, and in what proportions. Beneficiaries can include your spouse or partner, children, other relatives, friends, or charities. You can leave specific items to specific people (a piece of jewellery, a car), fixed sums of money, or a percentage share of what remains once other gifts have been made.

Think carefully about what happens if a beneficiary dies before you. A well-drafted will includes substitute beneficiaries so your estate does not fall back into intestacy rules for that share.

Step 3: Choose Your Executors

Your executor is the person (or people) responsible for administering your estate after you die — applying for probate, paying debts and tax, and distributing your assets according to your will. Most people appoint one or two trusted family members or friends, though you can also appoint a professional executor if your estate is complex or you would rather your family were not burdened with the task.

We cover this in detail in our guide to choosing executors for your will, including how many to appoint and what the role actually involves.

Step 4: Appoint Guardians for Young Children

If you have children under 18, your will is the place to name guardians who would care for them if both parents were to die. Without this, the court decides who raises your children — which may not be who you would have chosen. This is one of the most emotionally important parts of the whole process, and one that families in Hounslow and Ealing often tell me they had been putting off simply because it felt too difficult to think about.

Step 5: Consider Whether You Need a Trust

Trusts are not just for the wealthy. They can be used to protect a child's inheritance until they are old enough to manage it responsibly, provide for a vulnerable family member, protect assets if you remarry, or reduce inheritance tax. If any of these situations apply to you, it is worth discussing trust options with your will writer before the document is drafted.

Step 6: Get the Will Drafted

Once you have made these decisions, the will itself needs to be put into proper legal wording. This is where DIY will kits often fall short. A will is a technical legal document, and small drafting errors — ambiguous wording, missed clauses, incorrect definitions of who counts as a "child" or "issue" — can cause serious disputes or unintended outcomes after you are gone.

A professionally drafted will costs far less than most people expect. At Abrahams Wills, a single will starts from just £150, including a home visit, with no hidden extras.

Step 7: Sign and Witness It Correctly

This is the step where DIY wills most often go wrong, and it is worth understanding the rules precisely. For a will to be valid in England and Wales, it must:

• Be made by someone aged 18 or over
• Be made voluntarily, without pressure from anyone else
• Be made by someone who has the mental capacity to understand what they are doing
• Be in writing
• Be signed by the person making the will, in the presence of two witnesses
• Be signed by both witnesses, in the presence of the person making the will

Crucially, your witnesses must be present at the same time as you sign, and neither witness — nor their spouse — can be a beneficiary of the will. If a beneficiary or their spouse acts as a witness, that gift is void, even though the rest of the will remains valid. This single mistake catches out a surprising number of DIY wills.

What Makes a Will Invalid?

A will can fail, in whole or in part, for several reasons:

• Incorrect signing or witnessing
• Lack of mental capacity at the time of signing
• Evidence of undue influence or pressure from another person
• The person did not understand or approve of the contents
• A later, valid will or marriage automatically revokes an earlier one

If a will is found to be invalid, the intestacy rules apply instead — meaning the law decides who inherits, regardless of what you wanted.

DIY vs Professional Will Writing

It is entirely possible to write your own will using a template. But given how easily small errors can invalidate a will or a specific gift within it — and how impossible it is to fix mistakes once you have died — most people find real peace of mind in having a professional draft the document, check it meets every legal requirement, and oversee the signing.

As a member of The Society of Will Writers, I make sure every will I draft is legally sound, clearly worded, and properly executed, whatever your circumstances.

How Abrahams Wills Can Help

I offer home visits 7 days a week across London and Surrey, including Hounslow, Ealing, and Richmond, guiding you through every one of these steps in the comfort of your own home. Once your will is drafted, I explain it in plain English before you sign, and make sure your witnesses are arranged correctly.

If your estate may be liable for inheritance tax, it is also worth reading our guide to inheritance tax thresholds and how to reduce your bill.