Do I need a solicitor to sign or witness my Will?

No. In fact a solicitor doesn’t need to have any involvement at all in your Will to make it legally valid.

Your witnesses

You can choose your own witnesses (you’ll need two of them) and they can be pretty much anyone as long as they understand what they are doing and are able to see your signature. In practice it a good idea to choose someone who is an adult and somebody whom you expect can be traced after you die, in case they have to give evidence about the signing of the Will.

You should also be aware that if a beneficiary of the Will (or their spouse or civil partner) witnesses the Will then the gift to that beneficiary will fail. So its vital to have your Will witnessed by someone who is not a beneficiary.

To read more about getting your Will witnessed and who to choose read the articles linked below.

Getting your Will witnessed sounds like it should be a tricky task, but it’s not at all. We’ll remind you just how easy it is when you’ve finished putting together your will. It’s the very last step in the whole process, so once it’s done you’ll have a fully legal Will in place.


Related Articles:

Who can witness my Will?
Do I need a solicitor to make my Will?
How do I make sure that my Will is legal?


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