Who can witness a will in the UK? The rules and the common mistakes

Who can witness a will in the UK?

In England and Wales, almost any adult can witness your will, provided they can see you sign and understand what they are witnessing, and provided neither they nor their spouse or civil partner receive anything under it. GOV.UK's guidance on making your will legal lists two witnesses who are both over 18 among its requirements and says you cannot leave your witnesses, or their married partners, anything in your will, and the Law Society's public guidance says the same.

The Wills Act 1837 itself does not set a minimum age for witnesses, and the Ministry of Justice's guidance on making wills using video-conferencing notes that under the current law "mature minors" are allowed to witness a will whilst blind people cannot, which fits its explanation that a witness needs a clear line of sight of the signature being made. The same guidance, last updated in January 2022, describes a general assumption that a witness should have testamentary capacity, meaning the mental capacity needed to make a will, and says a witness must understand that they are witnessing the signing of the document. Because the witnesses may later be asked to confirm how the will was signed, using two independent adults, as MoneyHelper suggests, is the safer course even where the law would allow someone younger.

Witnesses do not need to read your will, as the Law Society points out, so you can keep its contents private whilst still having it properly witnessed. Our guide to writing your own will covers the other formal requirements a will has to meet.

What are the witnessing rules for a will in England and Wales?

The rules are in section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, which says a will is valid only if you sign it, or someone signs for you in your presence and at your direction, and that signature is made or acknowledged by you in the presence of two or more witnesses who are present at the same time. Each witness must then either sign the will or acknowledge their signature in your presence, although the Act says this does not have to happen in the presence of the other witness.

In practice this gives a little flexibility in the order of events. If you have already signed before the witnesses arrive, you can acknowledge your signature to both of them together, and once you have done so a witness who signs whilst the other is out of the room is still within the rules, provided you are there. What the Act does not allow is for you to sign in front of one witness on Monday and the other on Tuesday, because the two witnesses have to be present at the same time when you sign or acknowledge your signature.

GOV.UK adds some practical points. You and your witnesses must sign the same document, your witnesses must have a clear view of you signing, and you must have a clear view of each of them signing. The Ministry of Justice guidance explains that a clear line of sight is what the law requires, which is why witnessing through an open door or from a short distance outdoors could still be valid, provided everyone could genuinely see the signature being made.

Can a beneficiary witness a will?

A beneficiary can physically sign as a witness, but under section 15 of the Wills Act 1837 any gift to them in that will becomes void, although the will itself remains valid and everyone else still inherits as planned. The same applies where the witness is married to a beneficiary, and the Civil Partnership Act 2004 extends the rule to a witness whose civil partner is a beneficiary, so a gift to your daughter fails if her husband witnesses your will, even though she never signed anything.

There is one rescue. Under section 1 of the Wills Act 1968, the signature of a witness who benefits is ignored if the will was properly witnessed without them, so a beneficiary who signed alongside two other independent witnesses keeps their gift. A will with only two witnesses, one of whom benefits, has no spare witness to fall back on, which is why the gift is lost in that situation.

The rule is about receiving a benefit, so a solicitor or other professional executor who witnessed the will can still charge for their work under a professional charging clause, because section 28(4) of the Trustee Act 2000 treats those payments as payment for services rather than a gift. Our guide to whether an executor can be a beneficiary covers how this rule plays out when the same person is both.

Can family members, an executor or a neighbour witness a will?

Family members can witness your will in England and Wales, provided they receive nothing under it and are not married to or in a civil partnership with someone who does. The Act does not bar relatives as such, but if your will leaves anything to a relative, or to their husband, wife or civil partner, that relative is caught by section 15 the moment they sign as a witness, which is why independent witnesses tend to cause fewer problems.

Executors: section 17 of the Wills Act 1837 says being an executor does not stop someone being a witness, and the Ministry of Justice guidance confirms that the current law allows an executor to witness. If your executor is also a beneficiary, though, their gift fails under section 15 if they witness, even though their appointment as executor survives.

Your spouse or partner: a husband, wife or civil partner who witnesses loses anything you leave them, which rules most of them out in practice. An unmarried partner who witnesses loses their own gift for the same reason, because the rule covers the witness personally.

Neighbours and friends: any adult who can see you sign and gets nothing under the will, and whose spouse or civil partner gets nothing either, can act, so a neighbour or friend who is not named in the will is usually a straightforward choice.

The current rule does not cover a witness's unmarried partner, so a gift to the partner of a witness still takes effect. The Law Commission's Modernising Wills Law report (May 2025) recommended extending the rule to cohabitants, and to people who sign on the will-maker's behalf, but that is a proposal and not the law.

Can a will be witnessed by video call?

Not for a will you make now in England and Wales. The Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 added a temporary subsection to section 9 so that "presence" could include presence by videoconference, and a 2022 Order extended it, but as the text on legislation.gov.uk shows, it only covers wills made on or after 31 January 2020 and on or before 31 January 2024. legislation.gov.uk shows no later amendment or outstanding change to section 9 as at November 2026, so any will made after 31 January 2024 needs both witnesses physically present.

A will that was video-witnessed within that period can still be valid if it followed the rules. The Ministry of Justice guidance said the witnesses had to watch the signing live rather than in a recording, and that everyone had to sign the same paper document, because electronic signatures and counterpart copies were not allowed. It also said the will was only fully valid once both witnesses had signed, so a will-maker who died before the process finished could leave a will that had no legal effect.

The Law Commission's 2025 report recommended that electronic wills should be capable of being valid, with witnesses able to attend by video call, and its wills project page says it is now for the Government to consider the recommendations. Until the law changes, the safe course is a paper will signed in the physical presence of two witnesses.

What is an attestation clause and do you need one?

An attestation clause is the short statement beside the witnesses' signatures which records that the signing and witnessing steps in section 9 were followed. Section 9 says no particular form of attestation is necessary, so a will can be valid without one, but the clause makes the probate process far smoother.

The reason is rule 12 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. Where a will has no attestation clause, or the clause is insufficient, or there is doubt about how the will was signed, the district judge or registrar will normally ask one of the witnesses for an affidavit or witness statement about the signing before accepting the will, and must refuse probate if satisfied that it was not properly signed. Witnesses may have moved away or died by then, so a clear clause, with the witnesses' names and addresses written legibly, saves your executors that step. The Ministry of Justice guidance suggested that wills witnessed by video should say so in the attestation clause.

What happens if a will is not witnessed properly?

A will that does not meet section 9 is not valid, which means it has no legal effect at all. Because section 20 of the Wills Act 1837 only allows a will to be revoked by a properly executed later will or document, or by destroying it with that intention, an invalid new will does not cancel an earlier one, so your previous will may apply instead. If there is no earlier will, your estate passes under the intestacy rules, which our guide to the intestacy rules sets out, and under those rules an unmarried partner inherits nothing.

The consequences are narrower where the only problem is who witnessed. A beneficiary witness costs that person their gift but leaves the will standing, and section 14 of the Act says a will is not invalid just because a witness is, or later becomes, incompetent to give evidence about it. Disputes about whether a will was properly signed are one of the grounds covered in our guide to contesting a will, and the same witnessing rules apply to any codicil or later alteration, which our guide to changing a will explains.

How are the rules different in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Scotland does not require a witness for a will to be valid, but mygov.scot explains that a will signed on every page, with one witness watching you sign the last page and then signing it, is "self-proving" and will usually be accepted without further evidence. The witness must be at least 16, able to understand what they are doing and someone who knows you, and must add their full name, address, the place of signing and the date. To reduce the risk of a challenge, mygov.scot advises that the witness should not benefit from the will or be related to someone who does, and section 15 of the 1837 Act does not apply in Scotland.

Northern Ireland follows the same pattern as England and Wales under the Wills and Administration Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1994, which requires two witnesses present at the same time, makes a gift to a witness or their spouse or civil partner void, saves it where the will was properly witnessed without them, and allows an executor to witness.

How to get your will witnessed correctly

1. Choose two adults who receive nothing under the will and are not married to or in a civil partnership with anyone who does.

2. Make sure both can see you clearly, and gather everyone in the same room at the same time, rather than relying on a video call.

3. Sign the will, or acknowledge a signature you have already made, whilst both witnesses watch.

4. Have each witness sign the same document in your presence and print their name and address legibly.

5. Check that the attestation clause is complete, and do not write on the will afterwards.

6. Follow the same process for any codicil, using witnesses who do not benefit from it.

A properly witnessed will is one part of leaving things clear for your executors, who will also have to find and tell every bank, utility, insurer and subscription you held, which is far quicker when there is a record of your accounts with the will. If that work does fall to your family, Legacy Trail's free notification service can contact the private-sector companies for them.