The law reserves some legal work. Writing a will isn’t on the list.
In England & Wales, the law reserves certain legal activities to authorised professionals — and writing a will is not one of them. The reserved list (Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 2) includes probate activities — applying for grants of representation by way of business — but not will-drafting itself.
The practical consequence: the person who writes your will may be a solicitor, a member of a voluntary body, or nobody-in-particular — all perfectly legal.
Regulation is not a legality test. It is a question of what stands behind the document if something goes wrong.
“Regulated” answers six different questions. They have different answers.
Almost every argument about will-writing regulation is really six questions wearing one coat. Asked separately they are answerable, and the answers rarely all point the same way for the same provider. Ask them in this order about anyone — including us.
Two conclusions people reach from the single word, both wrong: that an SRA-authorised firm guarantees a better will — it does not, it guarantees recourse — and that an unregulated provider is acting unlawfully — it is not, because the activity was never reserved. Regulation tells you what happens if something goes wrong, not how good the document is.
Five rungs. Same market, five very different backstops.
Every provider in this market sits on one of these rungs. None of them is illegal — what changes is what stands behind the work.
SRA-regulated firm (solicitors)
Check the SRA registerThe full apparatus: a public register you can check in two minutes, mandatory professional indemnity insurance, a complaints route ending at the Legal Ombudsman, and a compensation fund behind that.
CILEX-regulated professionals
A parallel regulated route with its own register and accountability.
STEP members
Not a regulator — a professional body whose full members (TEP) hold recognised specialist qualifications in trusts and estates. A strong signal of competence, often held alongside SRA/CILEX regulation.
Voluntary codes (e.g. will-writing societies)
Self-regulatory bodies with codes of conduct and, typically, insurance requirements — meaningful, but membership is voluntary and the discipline is the body's own.
Unregulated
Entirely legal. If the will is drafted negligently, your family's remedies depend on whatever insurance and goodwill exist — there is no regulator to complain to.
Which of the brands in this market holds which credential is a checkable fact, not a marketing claim — every named brand’s status on our comparison pages is stated from live register lookups on the day of publication.
It gets you recourse. It doesn’t get you a better will.
A competent unregulated drafter can produce an excellent simple will; a regulated firm can produce a mediocre one. Regulation is a safety-net question — and the more your estate could go wrong, the more that net is worth.
Recourse
A complaints procedure with teeth, an ombudsman, professional indemnity insurance, and a compensation fund behind that.
A better will
Regulation doesn’t, by itself, make the document better — it changes what happens if the work turns out to be wrong.
The honest way to weigh it: trusts, blended families, business assets, foreseeable disputes raise the stakes — those are the wills that end up tested, and where a safety net earns its keep.
How to check anyone, in two minutes.
Search the SRA register (free, public) for the firm and the individual. Then ask three questions before instructing anyone:
Who exactly will draft my will, and what are their qualifications?
What professional indemnity insurance stands behind the work?
If I have a complaint, who do I complain to outside your company?
A good answer to all three is short. A long answer to any of them is your signal.
Stated on the same register-checkable terms as everyone else.
Valoren
Self-service will (£149) is document preparation, not a reserved activity and not legal advice — with an honest complexity check that routes you out when your situation needs a professional. An optional named-solicitor review is available, priced before you commit. Regulated legal work — probate, trusts, estate administration — is delivered through Signum, conducted under named, regulated professionals whose credentials appear in your engagement letter and on the public registers.
Regulation, answered.
Informational, not legal advice. Confirm any firm or individual’s current status directly against the SRA register before instructing them.
Facts checked: 18 July 2026. Every named credential claim is a same-day register lookup.