How to register a will in the UK, and why it helps your executors
Registering a will is optional in the UK. What a will register records and costs, and how it differs from depositing the original with HMCTS.
11 min read
Making a Will
How wills work in England and Wales: what to put in one, and the rules on signing and witnessing that decide whether it is valid.
A will decides who inherits what you leave and who deals with the estate after your death, and without one the intestacy rules make those decisions for you, which often means a partner you were not married to receives nothing. Making a will is usually more straightforward than people expect, although the rules on signing and witnessing are strict, because a will that was not signed properly can fail at exactly the point it is needed.
To see what happens when there is no will, intestacy rules sets out who inherits by default and in what order. It also helps to know how a will is used once someone has died, which how to find a will and contesting a will both cover, since most of the problems executors run into later trace back to how the will was written and where it was kept.