WILLS · THE HONEST ANSWER

Do I need a solicitor for my will?

No law says you do. A will you write yourself is exactly as valid as one a solicitor drafts — if it's signed correctly and your estate is genuinely simple. The honest question is whether yours is. Here's the checklist we use ourselves.

Is your estate simple? Let's check

Planning ahead? Right place. Handling an estate now? → Probate without a solicitor · What to do when someone dies

§1What the law actually requires

Four things — none of them a solicitor.

The Wills Act 1837 asks for four things — none of them is a solicitor. The will must be in writing · signed by you · your signature made or acknowledged in front of two witnesses, both present at the same time · each witness then signs in front of you. That's the whole statutory machine.

A witness who is a beneficiary — or married to one — keeps the will valid but loses their gift.

Get the signing right and a simple will stands; get it wrong and no drafting fee can save it.

§2When you genuinely don't need one

Simple means something specific.

For a genuinely simple estate, a careful will without a solicitor is a reasonable, lawful choice. Simple means something specific:

✓Everything to a spouse or civil partner, then to children equally

✓UK assets only

✓No trusts needed

✓Nobody vulnerable

✓Nobody likely to challenge

✓Estate comfortably under the inheritance-tax threshold

If that's you, the work is care and correctness, not legal complexity — and the signing section above is where care matters most.

§3The honest trigger list

When you should see a solicitor.

These are the situations where do it yourself stops being brave and starts being expensive.

A trust is needed or sensible — second families, minor children's shares, property arrangements: drafting trusts is genuine legal work.

A disabled or vulnerable beneficiary — the wrong gift structure can cost them means-tested support.

Foreign property or assets — two legal systems, one document; sequencing matters.

A business or farm — reliefs and succession need engineering, not a paragraph.

A blended family — fairness between a current partner and children from before needs mechanics (life interests, not hopes).

You expect a challenge — estrangement, dependants left out, unequal shares: evidence of advice is itself protective.

The estate is near or over the IHT threshold — the will is now a tax instrument.

Anyone would call your capacity into question — a solicitor's file note is the classic safeguard.

If even one of these is yours, pay for the advice. The fee is small against what these situations cost when they go wrong.

§4The part nobody publishes

We check this for you — and we say no.

Our will intake runs this same assessment in full — and when your answers hit the list above, it tells you to see a solicitor instead of selling you a will. That's the whole design. A will service that treats every estate as simple is a will service with an incentive problem. The public checklist on this page is the honest summary; the intake asks the detailed version and gives you a straight answer either way.

§5If you do use a solicitor

How to buy well.

A solicitor's will is bought best as a fixed fee with a clear scope. Ask for the fixed price in writing · ask what's included (registration? storage? updates?) · ask what happens to the original. Typical simple-will fees run £150–£400 — the full price landscape is on how much does a will cost.

If one of the eight is yours

Where the boundary is reached, Valoren refers.

If even one of the eight situations above is yours, this page has already told you what to do: pay for the advice. This is where we are straightforward about the two routes to it — one of them is ours, and we say so.

Signum · Valoren's own specialist desk

Have Signum look at it

Signum is part of Valoren — our own service, and we say so plainly. Where a will stops being simple — a trust to draft, a business or a farm to pass on, foreign property, an estate close to the inheritance-tax threshold — Signum carries it: handled by in-house regulated specialists and coordinated through named regulated professionals, with the scope agreed before any fee is. It starts with a free intake, and if we are not the right fit for your estate, we will tell you so and point you at the directories below.

valoren.uk/services →↗

Prefer an independent adviser?

The Law Society · Public directory

Find a Solicitor

The Law Society of England & Wales — regulated solicitors. Searchable by postcode and area of practice. Best fit for full-service estate administration where IHT400 submission, cross-border assets, or contested points are involved.

solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk →↗

STEP · Public directory

Find a Trust and Estate Practitioner

Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners — the professional body for trust and estate work in the UK. Members hold the TEP credential after rigorous examination. Best fit when trusts, cross-border estates, or complex succession structures are involved.

step.org →↗

Signum is Valoren's own desk — when you instruct Signum, you are instructing us, and this page tells you so rather than dressing it up as an independent recommendation. Neither the Law Society nor STEP pays Valoren a referral fee, and we pass your details to no one: the directories are listed so that the independent route is always one click away.

Figure watch · checked weekly

Not sure where you stand?

Leave an email and we'll send one short note if the rules on this page change — only when something actually moves.

FAQCommon questions

Frequently asked

Yes in England & Wales, if it meets the signing rules — writing, your signature, two witnesses present together, each signing in front of you.

They can, but shouldn't if they benefit — a witness who is a beneficiary or a beneficiary's spouse loses the gift, even though the will itself stays valid.

Small changes need a codicil executed with full will formalities, or a new will — never handwriting on the original.

A new will is usually cleaner.

The common causes: signing-rule failures, a later marriage (which revokes a prior will unless made in contemplation of it), lost originals, and capacity challenges.

The medium doesn't matter; the execution does.

Printed and signed per the rules, valid; sitting unsigned in an inbox, worthless.

Typically £150–£400 simple / £250–£600 mirror (checked 2026-07-05) — full honest table at /how-much-does-a-will-cost.

No — different rules apply on several of these points. This page is England & Wales only.

Run the check

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Simple estate?

Make your will — £149, Will Watch included.

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Related next steps

How much does a will cost?

The honest 2026 price table→