What are the steps to make a will?
Making a valid will in England and Wales takes eight steps:
- Check whether your situation needs professional advice.
- List what you own and owe, and how each asset is held.
- Decide who inherits, including backups if someone dies before you.
- Choose your executors and, if you have children under 18, their guardians.
- Choose how to write the will: yourself, an online service or a solicitor.
- Read the draft carefully before signing.
- Sign it in front of two witnesses, who then sign it in front of you.
- Store the original safely and tell your executors where it is.
You must be 18 or over to make a will (Wills Act 1837, section 7), and GOV.UK says you must make it voluntarily and be of sound mind. The sections below take each step in turn.
1. Do you need professional advice?
You can write a will yourself, but GOV.UK recommends advice if your will is not straightforward. Its examples are sharing a property with someone who is not your husband, wife or civil partner; providing for a dependant who cannot care for themselves; family members who may make a claim, such as a second spouse or children from another marriage; a permanent home outside the UK; property overseas; and owning a business.
Trusts, inheritance tax planning and doubts about mental capacity also need individual advice. SwiftWill asks screening questions before payment and stops if any of these apply. Our guide to whether you need a solicitor explains each situation.
2. What should you gather before you start?
- Your full name, address and date of birth, and whether you are married, in a civil partnership or planning to be.
- A list of your assets and debts: property, savings, investments, pensions, life insurance, vehicles and valuable belongings.
- How each property is owned. A home held as joint tenants passes to the other owner automatically and cannot be left in your will (GOV.UK: joint property ownership).
- Full names and addresses of the people and charities you want to benefit.
- Who you want as executors and, for children under 18, as guardians, after asking whether they are willing.
- Any existing will, and what has changed since you made it.
Pensions and life insurance often pay out under a nomination form rather than your will, so check those with each provider. See what a will does not cover. Never put passwords or PINs in a will: it can become a public document after probate, and anyone can order a copy from the probate records service.
Which documents help you check the details?
Use records to check your answers before drafting. This is a preparation checklist, not a request to upload your documents. Keep sensitive account details in a separate private record.
| Record | What to check | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Existing will and any codicils | Who is appointed, who benefits and what you want to change. | Read how to update a will before replacing it. |
| Property ownership documents | Who owns the property and whether joint ownership is as joint tenants or tenants in common. | Check how joint ownership affects your will; do not assume the whole home is yours to leave. |
| Savings, investment and debt records | What you own and owe, and where the records are kept. | Use the executor handover to record locations, without passwords or PINs. |
| Pension and life-cover paperwork | Who is nominated, whether a trust is involved, and what the provider says happens on death. | Ask the provider about nominations; check arrangements outside a will separately. |
| People and charity details | Correct names and contact details, willingness to act, and your intended backup beneficiaries. | Use the conversation worksheet before naming an executor. |
If you cannot establish how an important asset is owned, pause that decision and seek advice. The GOV.UK preparation guidance and joint-ownership guidance support these checks. The records checklist was checked on 30 September 2026.
3. Who will inherit?
A will usually makes some specific gifts (an item or a sum of money) and then leaves the rest, called the residue, in shares. The residue clause is the most important part, because it catches everything not given away specifically. Read what a residuary estate is before deciding the shares.
Name a backup for each main gift. If a beneficiary dies before you and there is no backup, the gift normally fails, although gifts to your own children or grandchildren can pass to their children under section 33 of the Wills Act 1837. Stepchildren and unmarried partners only inherit if you name them; see wills for unmarried couples.
4. Who will be your executors and guardians?
Executors collect the estate, pay debts and tax, and distribute what is left. Choose people you trust and ask them first. Up to four executors can take out a grant for the same part of an estate (Senior Courts Act 1981, section 114), and an executor can also be a beneficiary. See what an executor does.
If you have children under 18, GOV.UK says your will should set out who should look after them. SwiftWill appoints the executors and guardians you enter jointly; it does not draft a separate reserve appointment. If you need a first choice followed by a substitute, use a service that can draft that.
5. How should you write the will?
The Competition and Markets Authority describes three broad options: writing it yourself, using a regulated professional such as a solicitor, or using an unregulated will writer. Online services sit within the last two, depending on who runs them.
| Route | What you get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Write it yourself | No cost. Valid if signed and witnessed correctly. | Unclear wording, a missing residue clause and signing mistakes are easy to make. See can I write my own will. |
| Blank template | A structure to fill in. | It cannot tell you whether the clauses fit your family. See free will template. |
| Automated online service | Guided questions and a generated document to print and sign. SwiftWill: £35 single, £55 matching pair, preview before payment. | No individual legal review at SwiftWill; check each provider's scope, complaints route and insurance. |
| Online or phone service with human review | A person checks or drafts the will. | Ask who checks it and whether they are regulated. |
| Solicitor or regulated firm | Tailored advice, trusts, tax planning and a file of evidence. | Fees vary; ask for a fixed quote. Complaints can go to the Legal Ombudsman. |
| Charity free-will schemes | A simple will, usually in return for an optional donation. | Fixed campaign dates and eligibility rules. See free will options. |
The CMA suggests checking whether a provider is regulated, what is included in the price, what happens if things go wrong and whether the service suits the part of the UK where you live. Our sourced provider comparison sets out published prices and scope.
6. What should you check in the draft?
- Names, addresses and relationships are correct and unambiguous.
- Residue shares add up to 100% and each has a backup.
- Specific gifts describe the item or amount clearly.
- The executors and any guardians are the people you intend.
- You understand every clause. If one has an effect you do not understand, stop and get advice.
The annotated sample will shows how a SwiftWill document is laid out and what each clause does.
What is the difference between a preview, a PDF and a signed will?
The preview lets you check the proposed wording before paying. A downloaded PDF is the document you prepare for signing; buying or saving it does not complete the signing process. Your signed original is what you must keep safely afterwards. A recovery file lets you reopen your SwiftWill answers, but does not replace that original.
Check the full document rather than only the summary: for example, does the person you chose as a backup actually appear where you intended? Keep downloaded files private, especially on a shared device, and read the draft and recovery-file privacy information. If you are considering a chatbot or an unfamiliar template, read online-will validity and AI-drafted wording first.
7. How do you sign the will?
Sign the printed will while two witnesses watch you at the same time, then each witness signs while you watch (section 9). A witness who inherits, or whose spouse or civil partner inherits, loses that gift (section 15). Video witnessing only applied to wills made from 31 January 2020 to 31 January 2024. The full steps are in how to sign and witness a will, and the witness guide covers who to ask.
8. Where should you keep the signed will?
GOV.UK lists your home, a solicitor, your bank, a will storage company or the Probate Service as places to keep it. Whatever you choose, tell your executors where it is. The Probate Service charges £24 from 13 July 2026. See where to store a will.
When should you update your will?
GOV.UK recommends a review every five years and after any major change. Marriage or a civil partnership revokes an existing will unless it was made with that marriage in mind (section 18). Divorce does not revoke it, but your former spouse is treated as having died on the date of the divorce (section 18A). You cannot amend a signed will by writing on it; make a codicil or a new will. See changing your will.
If you have a SwiftWill order, keep your recovery file and order details: they let you prepare a replacement for the same people without paying again. Any replacement still has to be printed, signed and witnessed.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Making a will (overview, writing your will, making it legal, updating it)
- Competition and Markets Authority: What to consider when buying will writing services (9 October 2024)
- Wills Act 1837, sections 7, 9, 15, 18, 18A and 33
- Senior Courts Act 1981, section 114
- GOV.UK: Joint property ownership
- HMCTS: Store a will with the Probate Service (fee £24 from 13 July 2026)
- GOV.UK: Search probate records
Original guide sources checked 24 September 2026. The added records checklist and preview, PDF and signed-original guidance were checked on 30 September 2026 against GOV.UK and SwiftWill's current document and privacy information.