Online will writing service UK what you need to know before you buy

An online will writing service UK residents can use lets you create a legally binding will from home, using a digital questionnaire instead of a solicitor's office. You answer questions about your assets, beneficiaries, executors, and any guardians for children, and the service turns your answers into a will document ready to sign.

It's usually faster and cheaper than instructing a solicitor, but it isn't automatically the right choice for every estate. This guide explains how these services work, what they cost, how the market is regulated, and when your circumstances mean you need more than a questionnaire.

This guide is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. It covers the law in England and Wales unless otherwise stated - Scottish and Northern Irish law differ in important respects, so always seek independent legal advice for complex estates.

Are online wills legally valid in the UK?

Yes. An online will carries exactly the same legal weight as a solicitor-drafted one, provided it's signed and witnessed correctly. Under the Wills Act 1837, a valid will must be in writing, signed by you in the presence of two independent witnesses, and then signed by both witnesses in your presence too. Your witnesses cannot be beneficiaries, or married to a beneficiary, or they risk losing their inheritance under the will.

A will is a legally binding document, and errors in how it's signed or witnessed can invalidate it entirely, even if everything else about it is correct. That's the real risk with online wills: not the format, but whether the process guides you through execution correctly.

You can read the government's official guidance on making a will for more detail on the legal requirements.

Prices vary considerably depending on the provider, whether you want a single will or mirror wills for you and a partner, and whether a solicitor checks your document before it's finalised.

The table below gives a general sense of the market. Prices change regularly, so always confirm the current cost directly with the provider before you buy.

A couple of charity-partnered schemes let you have a basic will written in exchange for a voluntary donation, rather than a set fee:

• Will Aid - runs every November, with participating solicitors writing basic wills in return for a donation to charity
• A national scheme run each March and October lets people aged 55 and over have a simple will written by a participating solicitor in exchange for a charitable donation (age criteria vary by provider)
• Some charities and workplace benefit schemes partner directly with online will writing services

A cheaper will isn't automatically a worse one, and a pricier one isn't automatically more thorough. What matters more is whether the service is properly regulated and whether it asks enough questions to capture your actual circumstances - which is what the next section covers.

Unlike mortgages, insurance, or investment advice, will writing in the UK is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This is one of the most important things to understand before you buy, and something few online will writing services make clear upfront.

Who's regulated and who isn't:

• Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). They must hold professional indemnity insurance, and you have access to the Legal Ombudsman if something goes wrong.
• Will writers who aren't solicitors are not required to hold any qualification, insurance, or regulatory authorisation. Many are members of a trade body - the Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW) or the Society of Will Writers (SWW) - which offers a level of consumer protection, but membership is voluntary, not a legal requirement.

Before you commit to any will writing service, check whether it holds professional indemnity insurance, whether it's a member of a recognised trade body, and how your money is protected if the firm stops trading before your will is finalised.

An online will works well for straightforward estates, but some circumstances call for a solicitor or a specialist will writer instead. The table below sets out a general decision framework - if you're unsure where your circumstances fit, it's worth getting a professional opinion rather than guessing.

Blended families and second marriages - why you need more than an online will

A standard mirror will can create an unintended problem for blended families. If you leave everything to your new spouse and they later remarry or write a new will, your children from a previous relationship could end up with nothing, even if that was never your intention.

A solicitor can set up a life interest trust, which lets your spouse continue living in the family home during their lifetime while guaranteeing your children inherit the property afterwards, or a property protection trust that ring-fences your share of the estate.

It's also worth understanding the difference between mirror wills and mutual wills. Mirror wills are two separate wills with matching terms - either person can change theirs at any time, even after the other has died. Mutual wills are contractually binding on both parties, so the surviving partner can't change the agreed terms after the first death. Second marriages and blended families are exactly the situation where this distinction matters most.

If any of this applies to you, it's worth speaking to a solicitor rather than relying on a standard online questionnaire.

The process is broadly the same across most providers, though the exact questions and layout will vary. Here's what to expect from start to finish.

Nobody enjoys thinking about inheritance tax, but getting it wrong can mean your family pays more than they need to. As financial advisors, this is where we can add real value alongside your will - inheritance tax planning and estate planning work best when they're coordinated, not treated separately.

For the 2026/27 tax year, every individual has a nil-rate band of £325,000 before inheritance tax applies. If you're passing your main home to direct descendants (children or grandchildren), you may also qualify for the residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000. Combined, that's up to £500,000 per person, or £1,000,000 for a married couple or civil partners who can combine their allowances.

How your will is structured affects how much of this allowance you actually use. Leaving everything to a spouse or civil partner is exempt from inheritance tax regardless of value, but it can waste the residence nil-rate band if it isn't planned properly. Charitable gifts of 10% or more of your estate can also reduce the inheritance tax rate on the rest of your estate. A will written without financial advice can inadvertently create a bigger inheritance tax bill than necessary.

There's also a significant change coming that most will writing services won't flag: from April 2027, unused pension funds and death benefits will generally form part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes for the first time. If a meaningful part of your wealth sits in a pension, it's worth coordinating your pension nominations with your will well before this change takes effect.

Gifts in wills and the seven-year rule

Gifts you make during your lifetime can also affect your estate's tax position. Most lifetime gifts are treated as potentially exempt transfers - if you survive seven years after making the gift, it usually falls outside your estate for inheritance tax purposes. If you die within seven years, the gift may still be counted, with the tax due tapering down the longer you survived after making it.

If releasing property wealth is part of your later-life planning, it's worth understanding equity release and inheritance tax together, since releasing equity changes the value of your estate and the assets available to your beneficiaries. It's also worth thinking about whether to remortgage before updating your will if your property's value or ownership has changed since your will was written.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it. Speak to an advisor before making changes to a mortgage, remortgage, or equity release plan alongside updating your will.

You can find current thresholds and detailed guidance on gov.uk's inheritance tax pages.

If you die without a valid will in England or Wales, the intestacy rules set out in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended) decide who inherits, not you. For many families, the outcome is very different from what they would have chosen.

The single most dangerous gap is for unmarried couples. However long you've lived together, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit anything under intestacy rules - they would need to make a separate, often lengthy, claim through the courts. Citizens Advice can help you understand your options if this applies to you.

Scotland - different rules apply

Scotland has its own succession law, and it works differently from England and Wales. Children have an automatic entitlement, known as legal rights, to a share of your moveable estate (money, investments, and possessions, but not property) regardless of what your will says. A surviving spouse or civil partner also has prior rights over the family home, up to a set value.

If you live in Scotland, or hold property there, always use a Scottish-qualified solicitor rather than a generic UK-wide online will writing service, as many aren't built to reflect Scots law correctly. You can read more at Citizens Advice.

Your executor is the person, or people, responsible for carrying out the instructions in your will. It's one of the most important decisions in the whole process, and it's easy to overlook.

Probate typically takes around nine to twelve months for a straightforward estate, and longer for more complex ones, according to HM Courts and Tribunals Service data. You can appoint a family member, a friend, or a professional executor such as a solicitor.

Professional executors typically charge 1% to 3% of the estate's value, on top of any other fees. That can add up to a substantial sum on a large estate, so always ask for the fee structure in writing before naming a professional executor in your will.

If you're an executor and feel overwhelmed by the process, MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk, 0800 138 7777) provides impartial, government-backed guidance on managing an estate and the wider financial decisions that come with it.

A will that can't be found can't be used, so where you store it matters as much as what's in it. Common options include:

• At home, in a fireproof and waterproof safe
• With the solicitor or service that wrote it, often for an ongoing storage fee
• On the National Will Register (Certainty), a searchable database used by probate professionals, for a one-off registration fee of around £30
• With HM Courts and Tribunals Service's probate registry deposit scheme, for a fee of around £25

Whichever option you choose, make sure your executor knows exactly where to find your will, and how to access it, before it's needed. If unsecured debts also form part of your estate, understanding debt consolidation and estate planning together can help your executor deal with what's left behind more easily.

A will isn't a one-off task - it needs revisiting whenever your circumstances change significantly. Review your will after:

• Getting married or entering a civil partnership (this automatically invalidates an earlier will in England and Wales, unless the will was made in expectation of that marriage)
• Divorce or separation
• The birth of children or grandchildren
• A significant change in the value of your assets, or buying a new property
• The death of a beneficiary or executor named in your will
• Changes to inheritance tax thresholds or rules
• Moving to Scotland or Northern Ireland

For small changes, a codicil, a short legal amendment, may be enough. For anything more substantial, or if you're making several changes at once, it's usually simpler and safer to write a new will altogether.

Pairing your will with the right protection matters too - see our guide on life insurance and will planning to understand how the two fit together. Many online will writing services include updates for a set period after purchase, so check the terms before you buy.