How should you select witnesses and ensure that your will is legally binding?
A witness to a will is a person who is present when the will is signed or acknowledged and who signs the will to attest to the fact that they saw the testator (the person making the will) sign it.
In England and Wales, a will must be witnessed by two people who are not beneficiaries under the will nor are closely related to a beneficiary, such as the spouse or civil partner of a beneficiary. This means that they cannot inherit anything from the will or stand to directly benefit from the inheritance. The witnesses must also be over the age of 18.
If someone who is a beneficiary signs your will, the will is still valid but that specific beneficiary forfeits their inheritance. Instead, their share is returned to your estate and is distributed to your other beneficiaries.
The witnesses do not need to read the will or understand its contents. They simply need to be both present when the testator signs or acknowledges their signature on the will, and they need to sign the will themselves.
If you sign your will without your witnesses present (it happens), your will is still valid if you acknowledge your signature (i.e. show the signature to your witnesses in your presence, and acknowledge it as your own) before your witnesses sign the will themselves. Legally, both witnesses need to be present when the acknowledgement takes place, similar to if you had signed the will in front of them.
The role of the witnesses is to:
Acknowledge that the testator signed or acknowledged the will in their presence.
Acknowledge that the will was signed by the testator of their own free will.
Provide evidence of the will's validity if it is ever challenged.
If a will is not witnessed properly, it may be invalid. It is important to choose witnesses who are reliable and who you trust. Some examples of witnesses you could choose include:
Friends: Any friend who is over the age of 18 and who is not a beneficiary under the will could be a witness.
Neighbours: Any neighbour who is over the age of 18 and who is not a beneficiary under the will could be a witness.
Coworkers: Any coworker who is over the age of 18 and who is not a beneficiary under the will could be a witness.
Professionals: Any professional, such as a doctor, lawyer, or accountant, who is over the age of 18 and who is not a beneficiary under the will could be a witness.
Solicitors: Although it is not mandatory, a solicitor can also be a witness to a will. However, they cannot act as a witness if they are also the executor of the will.
It’s also important that you adhere to the following guidelines when signing and witnessing your will to ensure it is legally binding in England and Wales:
The witnesses must be present at the same time when the testator signs or acknowledges the will.
The witnesses must sign the will in the presence of the testator.
The witnesses must sign their full names and addresses on the will.
We recommend keeping a copy of your will at home in a safe place, and keeping the original in a secure storage location away from home, for example at the National Wills Archive. This mitigates any risk of the will being damaged or missing after you have passed away, as it will be recorded on the National Will Registry, the largest database of wills in UK.
