Free wills in the UK: every way to get a will for free
Free Wills Month, Will Aid, the National Free Wills Network and other free will routes: who can use them and what still costs extra.
Can you really get a will for free?
Yes, and for people with straightforward affairs a free will can work well, because the long-running charity schemes have a solicitor write a simple will for you rather than handing you a form to fill in. Charities fund or run these schemes in the hope that some people will decide to leave them a gift, and Free Wills Month's terms for participating solicitors state that, in line with guidance from the Fundraising Regulator and the Charity Commission, a gift is not a condition of the will being paid for.
That arrangement also explains the limits. A charity paying for your will is paying for a simple one, so anything beyond it is usually charged to you, and most schemes come with an age limit or a short window for booking. If your situation needs more than a free scheme offers, our guide to how much a will costs compares the paid routes.
When is Free Wills Month and who can use it?
Free Wills Month runs twice a year, in March and October, and the official Free Wills Month site shows the next campaign beginning on 1 March 2027. It is intended for individuals and couples aged 55 and over, and where a couple are making mirror wills it is enough for one of them to have reached 55.
The campaign works through solicitors in selected locations rather than everywhere, so the postcode check on the site is the way to find out whether it runs near you. You contact one of those firms during the campaign month to book, and whilst most people see the solicitor at the firm's office, some firms will meet remotely or visit you at home. There are only so many appointments and they go to whoever books first, which means a campaign can close before the month is over. The solicitor then writes or updates a simple will, and it is the solicitor, rather than the charity, who decides whether your will counts as simple.
How does Will Aid work, and is it actually free?
Will Aid is not strictly free, because instead of charging their usual fee for a basic will, participating solicitors invite you to make a voluntary donation to the Will Aid charities. According to the Will Aid FAQs, the suggested donation is £120 for a single basic will and £200 for a pair of basic mirror wills, and the amount is at your discretion. The campaign runs every November, and Age UK, which is one of the eight charities that share the donations, says participating solicitors are listed on the Will Aid website from September each year.
Many Will Aid solicitors take instructions by phone or video call as well as in person, which Will Aid says means the scheme can be used wherever you live in the UK, although home visits are usually charged as an extra because of the time and travel involved. Will Aid also explains that Gift Aid cannot be added to the donation, because in March 2013 HMRC decided that receiving a will in return is too large a benefit for the donation to qualify.
What is the National Free Wills Network?
The National Free Wills Network is a year-round scheme through which charities and other member organisations pay for simple wills for their supporters, and its official site says it is not open to the public, so unlike Free Wills Month and Will Aid it is not something you can sign up to directly. You ask a member charity to refer you, often through a form on the charity's website or by email, and the Network then sends you a pack naming local solicitors who take part, along with some who see people remotely. The Network says it uses solicitors only, rather than will writers or fully online services, and that each solicitor decides what counts as a simple will, whilst a trust, tax advice or a lasting power of attorney is usually something you pay the solicitor for yourself.
Eligibility is set by each charity, which means it varies. Some charities' referral pages limit the service to supporters aged 50 or 55 and over, whilst at least one says anyone over 18 in England, Wales and Scotland can use it, so the referring charity's own page is the place to check. As with the other schemes, there is no obligation to leave the referring charity a gift.
Can you make a free will online through a charity?
Often you can, because several charities pay for free wills through online will services, either alongside their solicitor schemes or instead of them. Which?'s round-up of charity schemes shows that the online options vary by nation, with some limited to England and Wales and others covering Scotland or Northern Ireland, and that most of the charities it lists accept anyone over 18, although some set their own age limits.
The difference lies in who writes the will. MoneyHelper treats online services as a form of will-writing service, and its guide to will-writing services points out that their regulation is not the same as for solicitors, so you may have less protection if something goes wrong. The Competition and Markets Authority suggests asking whether a service is drafting the will for you or giving you a template to complete through an online form.
Can you get a free will through work, a union or an insurance policy?
Sometimes, and these routes are worth checking before you pay for anything because they are easy to overlook. MoneyHelper suggests asking whether your trade union or employer offers a free or reduced-cost will, since some include will writing as a workplace benefit, and Citizens Advice says some unions offer a free will service, often through their own solicitors. Citizens Advice also notes that some insurance policies include cover for preparing or checking a will, and MoneyHelper suggests that if you added legal cover to your home insurance, you look at whether it includes a will service.
Some banks offer will writing to their customers as well. MoneyHelper's advice is to check that you can choose your own executor, because some banks charge a lot for taking on that role, and Age UK warns that some banks charge high fees for their will services.
What does a free will cover, and what costs extra?
A free will normally means a simple will, and each scheme describes that in slightly different terms. Will Aid's rough guide is a will that shares everything between a small number of family, friends and charities, names a couple of executors, needs no detailed inheritance tax advice and involves nothing held abroad, and it says the solicitor charges separately for trusts and powers of attorney. Free Wills Month leaves the definition to the solicitor, and its terms for participating firms give tax advice, the division of a tenancy and the creation of a discretionary trust as examples of work for which the solicitor may ask you to pay the difference. Our guide to will costs explains what tends to push the price of that extra work up.
The other costs to watch for are the extras that sit around the will rather than in it. The Competition and Markets Authority's guide to buying will writing services points out that will storage, update subscriptions, professional executor appointments and estate planning services are not needed for a valid will and do not have to be bought from the business that writes it, and MoneyHelper warns that some companies offering "free" will writing charge ongoing storage fees that can increase over time. Storage itself need not cost anything, because MoneyHelper says most solicitors store a will they have drawn up at no extra charge, and both Free Wills Month and Will Aid offer free registration of your will with Certainty the National Will Register.
Is a free will the right choice for you?
A free will suits you if your wishes are simple and you fit the scheme's rules, because you get a solicitor-drafted will for little or nothing. The trade-offs are mostly practical, since the campaigns run for a month and can fill up early, the National Free Wills Network depends on a charity referral, and the age limits rule some people out. Will Aid notes that solicitors have limited time to give to the scheme, which is fine for a simple will but less so if you need to talk through a blended family or property abroad, which Citizens Advice lists among the situations where a solicitor is particularly advisable.
No scheme requires a gift, but if you do want to remember a charity the solicitor can word it properly, and Will Aid points out that a gift to a registered charity is free of inheritance tax. If none of the schemes fits and your wishes are very simple, our guide to writing your own will explains the legal rules and the mistakes that cause problems.
Scotland has its own formalities, and Citizens Advice Scotland says a will there is signed in front of one witness rather than two. Will Aid directs complaints about solicitors in Scotland to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and those in Northern Ireland to the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
How do you check a free will service is properly run?
The first thing to check is who will actually write the will. Free Wills Month and the National Free Wills Network work only with solicitors, and Will Aid works through registered or authorised legal firms, so each of these routes gives you a regulated solicitor and, in England and Wales, the option of taking an unresolved service complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The CMA's guide explains that a firm wholly regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority shows a green tick and the words "SRA-regulated firm" next to its name on the SRA's Solicitors Register.
If a free offer comes from a will-writing business instead, MoneyHelper suggests choosing one that belongs to the Society of Will Writers or the Institute of Professional Willwriters and holds at least £2 million of professional indemnity cover. It is also sensible to be wary of an unexpected offer of a free charity will, because MoneyHelper's guidance on will scams describes fake charity schemes that use it to collect personal details or add hidden fees, and recommends checking the charity on the official register and contacting it directly.
Whichever route you use, the will still has to be signed and witnessed properly. GOV.UK's rules for a legal will require you to sign in the presence of two witnesses, who then sign in your presence, and under section 15 of the Wills Act 1837 a gift to a witness, or to a witness's spouse or civil partner, fails even though the rest of the will stands, unless two other people also witnessed the will properly. Our guide to who can witness a will covers the rules if you sign away from the solicitor's office.
What to do next
Write down what you own, who you want to benefit and who you would like as your executors, so that the appointment can be short and focused whichever scheme you use. Our guide to what an executor does explains the role you would be asking them to take on.
Check whether your employer, union or home insurance already includes a will service.
If you want to use Will Aid, contact a participating solicitor early in November, because appointments are limited, and if you are 55 or over, note that Free Wills Month next opens on 1 March 2027 and check early in the month whether it runs near you.
If a charity you give to is a member of the National Free Wills Network, ask it for a referral at any time of year.
Ask the solicitor at the start whether your will counts as simple and, if it does not, ask for the cost of the extra work in writing before it begins.
Agree where the original will be kept, and tell your executors where it is.
Making a will is also a good moment to write a simple list of the accounts you hold, because when you die your executors will have to find and tell every bank, utility, insurer and subscription provider, which is far easier with a clear record kept alongside the will. If that work does fall to your family, Legacy Trail's free notification service can contact the private-sector companies for them.
Frequently asked questions
Free Wills Month runs every March and October, and the official campaign site shows the next one starting on 1 March 2027. Appointments are limited and handed out on a first come, first served basis, so contacting a participating solicitor early in the month gives you the best chance of a place.
No. Charities fund these schemes in the hope of a gift, but Free Wills Month, Will Aid and the National Free Wills Network all say there is no obligation to leave one, and Free Wills Month's terms state that a gift is not a condition of the charity paying for the will. The charities behind Free Wills Month do not receive a copy of your will either.
Will Aid solicitors waive their usual fee for a basic will and invite a voluntary donation instead, with a suggested £120 for a single will or £200 for a pair of mirror wills. The amount is up to you, and the money goes to the eight Will Aid charities rather than to the solicitor.
Yes, although not through Free Wills Month, which is for people aged 55 and over. Will Aid's FAQs do not mention an age limit, some charities that refer supporters to the National Free Wills Network accept anyone over 18, and some employers and trade unions offer wills as a benefit.
Not usually as part of the free offer. Will Aid says trusts and powers of attorney are charged separately, and the National Free Wills Network says supporters usually pay the solicitor directly for trusts, tax advice or lasting powers of attorney, so it is worth asking for a written quote for any extra work before it starts.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.