Letter of wishes: what to include and how it works alongside a will

What is a letter of wishes?

A letter of wishes is a personal note that sits alongside your will and explains to your executors, and to any trustees, how you would like them to approach the decisions your will leaves in their hands. Age UK's factsheet on making a will (July 2026) describes it as a confidential document that goes with a will, whilst MoneyHelper calls it a personal guide for your executors and trustees.

The will does the legal work, because it appoints your executors and says who receives your estate, whereas the letter explains the thinking behind it and carries the kind of detail that would make a will long and awkward to keep up to date. Guidance published on The Gazette by a private client solicitor suggests writing the two at the same time and keeping them together, although you can add a letter at any point afterwards. This guide describes the position in England and Wales.

Is a letter of wishes legally binding?

No, a letter of wishes is not legally binding, and that is both its main limitation and the reason it is useful. Age UK's factsheet puts the distinction plainly, which is that a will is legally binding and a letter of wishes is not, and MoneyHelper says the same, so the people you name in it are being guided rather than instructed, and they are under no legal obligation to follow what you have written.

What you gain in return is flexibility. Age UK notes that what the letter says can be changed without altering the will itself, and according to the Gazette guidance the letter does not have to be witnessed in the way a will does, so you can rewrite it whenever your circumstances change. The same guidance adds that the letter should not contain anything that conflicts with your will, because its purpose is to back the will up and the will is the document that carries legal force. Anything you need to be certain of happening therefore has to be written into the will itself.

What should go in the will rather than the letter?

Anything you want to be legally binding belongs in the will, which in practice means the appointment of your executors, every gift of money or property you want to be guaranteed, who receives whatever is left once those gifts are made, and any trust you want to set up. Age UK advises against relying on a letter of wishes for items of substantial value, so a valuable painting or a family ring that you want a particular person to have is safer as a specific gift in the will, with the letter kept for the many smaller things that would otherwise clutter it.

Appointing a guardian for your children is a legal step too. Section 5 of the Children Act 1989 allows a parent with parental responsibility to appoint a guardian, says the appointment only takes effect if it is made in writing, dated and signed, and makes provision for appointments made by will, so the will is the natural place for the formal appointment and the letter is the place to explain what you hope for. If you later decide to change a binding gift, the will itself has to change, and our guide to changing a will with a codicil or a new will explains how that works.

How does a letter of wishes guide trustees and guardians?

A letter of wishes does most of its work where your will gives someone a choice, and the clearest example is a discretionary trust. GOV.UK's guide to the types of trust explains that, depending on the trust deed, the trustees of a discretionary trust can decide what gets paid out, which beneficiary receives it, how often and on what conditions. That freedom is deliberate, because circumstances change after a death, but it means the trustees need to know what you had in mind, for example that you would like a grandchild's education costs met first. Our guide to discretionary trusts and how to set one up explains why people use them.

For guardians, the letter can describe how you would like your children to be brought up, for example their education, their religious upbringing, where you hope they will live and which relatives you would like them to stay close to, which is the kind of guidance the Gazette article suggests. If different people act as guardians and as trustees of your children's money, it helps to say how you would like that money used for their day-to-day care.

Can a letter of wishes deal with personal belongings and pets?

Yes, and Age UK describes this as a typical use, because the letter lets you say who should have household and personal items such as furniture, ornaments, books or jewellery without the will having to list each one. In practice the will leaves your belongings to a named person and the letter explains how you would like them shared out, so the letter can change as you give things away.

The same factsheet is candid about the risks. The person named has no legal duty to follow the letter and might die before you or lose capacity, whilst the letter itself could be separated from the will or lost, and Age UK suggests naming more than one person, or naming your executor, to reduce those risks. Pets fit naturally here as well, since the letter can say who you would like to take on a dog or cat and what its routine is, although if you want to leave that person money towards its care, the gift itself belongs in the will.

Are funeral wishes binding on your executors?

No, funeral wishes are not legally binding in England and Wales, whether you set them out in your will or in a letter of wishes. Age UK's factsheet says so directly, and the Law Commission's project on funerals and remains states that the decisions a person makes about what happens to their body after death are not binding, although they may be given some weight. The Law Commission has said it will look at whether that should change, but for now your wishes are guidance for the people who arrange the funeral, so the practical question is how to make sure they know what you want in good time.

Age UK suggests writing a letter to your executor setting out your funeral wishes and keeping it with your will, or, if you put them in the will, making sure the people you want to arrange the funeral know you have done so. MoneyHelper's funeral planning guidance makes a similar suggestion, which is to write down what you want and tell someone where to find it, or give them a copy, so that your wishes are known even if nobody has looked at the will by the time the arrangements are being made.

What practical information will your executors need?

One of the most helpful things you can add to a letter of wishes, or keep in a separate note beside it, is a plain record of where everything is held. Your executors have to contact every bank, pension scheme, insurer and creditor to value and settle the estate, which our guide to what an executor does describes in detail, and finding out who those organisations are is often the slowest part of the job when nothing has been written down. A list that names each provider, without passwords or full account numbers, saves a great deal of searching later, and it can usefully cover:

• Bank and building society accounts, ISAs, Premium Bonds and any investments.

• Workplace and personal pensions, including schemes from earlier jobs.

• Life insurance and any other policies, such as home or car insurance.

• Gas, electricity, water, phone and broadband suppliers.

• Subscriptions, memberships and anything else paid by direct debit or card.

• Where your will and any lasting power of attorney are kept.

MoneyHelper's guidance on planning a will suggests listing your assets and their rough value before you start, so the same list can serve both purposes. Our guide to Swedish death cleaning and sorting your affairs goes through building that record in more detail, including how to trace old pensions and accounts you may have lost touch with.

Is a pension expression of wish form the same as a letter of wishes?

No, a pension expression of wish form is a separate document that you send to each pension scheme, and for pensions it matters far more than anything in your will or letter of wishes, because the scheme rather than your will usually decides who receives the death benefits. MoneyHelper explains that many schemes ask you to nominate a beneficiary using an expression of wish or nomination form, and that because most pensions are held under a discretionary trust, the trustees or provider choose who receives the money, and although they will usually follow your wishes, they do not have to.

Some guidance, including Age UK's factsheet, refers to the nomination for a pension or life policy lump sum as a separate letter of wishes, so it helps to be clear that this is the document the scheme or provider holds, not the letter kept with your will. MoneyHelper suggests updating it whenever things change, for example after a marriage or a divorce, and our guide to what happens to a pension when someone dies explains how trustees use these forms, including why an out-of-date one can point a pension towards a former partner.

Is a letter of wishes private, and should it include passwords?

A letter of wishes is generally treated as private, which is one reason people use it for family detail they would not want in the will. Once a grant of probate is issued in England and Wales, the will becomes a public document, as the Gazette guidance explains, and a copy of it can be ordered through GOV.UK's probate records search for £16, whereas the letter is a separate document and, according to the same guidance, stays confidential to the executors, trustees or family members it was written for. That describes normal practice rather than a guarantee, so it is sensible to write the letter on the footing that other people may one day read it.

That privacy has limits, because the letter will be read by your executors and trustees, and Age UK warns that it could be separated from the will or lost, so it is not the place for passwords or PINs. A better approach is to list the digital accounts you have and say what you would like done with them, since MoneyHelper's guide to getting your finances in order notes that a letter of wishes can say what to do with your social media accounts, and to use the legacy or inactive account settings that some large platforms offer within the account itself.

How do you write a letter of wishes, and what should you do next?

Write it in plain language, as though you were talking to the people who will read it, then sign and date it and keep it with your will. The Gazette guidance notes that your own words are perfectly adequate, so there is no need for legal phrasing. Age UK warns against attaching other documents to a will with staples or paperclips, so keep the letter in the same envelope or folder rather than fastened to it.

1. Decide what you need to be binding and make sure it is in your will, including gifts of valuable items.

2. Write the letter to your executors and any trustees, covering whichever of trust guidance, children, belongings, pets and funeral wishes apply to you.

3. Add a list of the organisations that hold your accounts and policies, without passwords.

4. Check the expression of wish form held by each pension scheme and update any that are out of date.

5. Sign and date the letter and keep it with your will, unattached.

6. Tell your executors where both documents are kept; our guide to where to keep your will sets out the options.

7. Reread the letter whenever your circumstances change and replace it with a new, dated version when they do.

When someone dies, their family or executors have to find and tell every bank, utility, insurer and subscription provider they dealt with, and a clear record of what you held makes that far quicker. If that work does fall to your family, Legacy Trail's free notification service can contact the private-sector companies for them.