Is a letter of wishes legally binding?
A letter of wishes (sometimes called an expression of wishes) is a personal document kept alongside your will. It is not legally binding — your executors and guardians can weigh it, but cannot be forced to follow it. That softness is precisely its value: it lets you explain yourself in plain, human language that would never belong in a legal document.
What is a letter of wishes used for?
- Guardianship reasoning — why you chose these guardians for your children, and how you would want them raised. See writing a will with children.
- Trust guidance — how you would like trustees to use their discretion, and for whose benefit.
- Funeral detail — the practical wishes that do not belong in the will itself.
- Small personal items — things of sentimental rather than financial value, easily updated as life changes.
- Explaining an exclusion — calm, factual reasons for leaving someone out, which a court can later read if the will is challenged.
What must stay in the will rather than a letter of wishes?
Anything you want enforced — gifts, guardianship appointments, executors — belongs in the will, properly signed and witnessed. A letter of wishes cannot override or amend a will, and if the two conflict, the will wins. Think of the will as the law and the letter as the commentary.
Should you update a letter of wishes?
No witnesses, no ceremony — you can rewrite a letter of wishes whenever you like. Sign and date it, and store it with your will so your executors find it. Review it whenever you review your will — and if the will itself needs changing, you can make a fresh one in about 15 minutes with SwiftWill, with free updates for life.