The short answer
- Match the route to the estate, not just the budgetA solicitor costs more but is the safer choice for property abroad, a business, or a family likely to disagree. A simple estate with one or two beneficiaries can often be handled by a professional will-writer or a free charity scheme.
- A written will can cost nothingNational charity schemes pay a solicitor to write a simple will for you, in return for considering a gift to charity. There is no obligation to include one.
- Two witnesses, present together, in personA will is only valid if you sign it in front of two adult witnesses at the same time. Witnessing by video call is no longer allowed.
- Marriage cancels an old will automaticallyGetting married or forming a civil partnership revokes an existing will unless it was written with that marriage in mind, so it is worth checking straight after a wedding rather than years later.
Prices below are UK market rates for writing a will, checked September 2026. They are not PrimeCarers prices; PrimeCarers does not write wills or give legal advice.
Which route fits you
Which route fits your situation
There are four practical ways to get a will written, and the right one depends on how complicated the estate is and how much support you want, not only the price. Without a valid will in place, the rules of intestacy decide who inherits: a spouse or civil partner receives the first £322,000 of the estate before anything is shared with children, and an unmarried partner, however long the relationship, inherits nothing automatically.
- 1
A solicitor
£200 to £500+Full legal advice from someone regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who drafts the will and checks it against your situation.
Best for: Property abroad, a business, a blended family, or anyone whose mental capacity might later be questioned.
- 2
A professional will-writer, in branch or online
£70 to £300A guided form or a consultation, usually checked by a person. Will-writing itself is not a regulated profession, so look for membership of a body such as the Institute of Professional Willwriters.
Best for: A straightforward estate: one property, clear beneficiaries, nothing likely to be disputed.
- 3
A free charity scheme
No fee, a donation is invitedA solicitor writes a simple will in the normal way, in return for a gift to charity rather than their usual fee. The gift is invited, not required.
Best for: A simple estate, if you are open to considering a charitable gift.
- 4
A DIY kit
From about £10A blank template you complete and arrange to have witnessed yourself, with no legal check before or after.
Best for: Only the simplest situations: no property, one beneficiary, nothing likely to be disputed.
If you are trying to work out what you are and are not responsible for as a family member, rather than how to write a will, Am I legally responsible for my elderly parent? covers that question separately, and the legal side of caring for an elderly relative sets out the wider picture beyond wills. For help with the rest of arranging their care, our elderly care guide is a good place to start.
When a solicitor earns the fee
The estates that need more than a form
A guided form works for many families, but a few situations are better handled by a solicitor from the start, because a mistake here is expensive to unpick later.
Property or savings outside the UK
A business, a farm or a partnership
A blended family or a likely disagreement
A parent whose mental capacity is in question
A solicitor's fee for a single, straightforward will is commonly £200 to £500 depending on where you live and how complicated the estate is, mirror wills for a couple cost roughly the same again, and a will involving trusts or a business can cost several hundred pounds more. Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, so there is somewhere to complain if the advice turns out to be wrong. If your parent's mental capacity is already in question, what a deputyship application costs covers the route to take if a will is no longer possible.
Free will-writing schemes
Getting a solicitor to write it for free
A handful of national schemes pay a solicitor to write a simple will at no cost to you, in exchange for the chance that you consider leaving something to charity. None of them require it.
Getting it signed correctly
The signing rules that make a will hold up
However the will is written, it becomes legally valid the same way in England and Wales. Missing any one of these steps is one of the most common reasons a will is later thrown out.
- 1
Sign it yourself, or direct someone to sign for you
Step 1You must sign the will, or someone else can sign it in your presence and at your direction if you are physically unable to. - 2
Two witnesses, both there at the same time
Step 2Both witnesses must be 18 or over, and both must watch you sign, at the same time as each other. A will signed with witnesses at different times is not valid. - 3
Nobody who benefits from the will can act as a witness
Step 3If a witness, or their husband, wife or civil partner, is left anything in the will, that gift becomes void, even though the will itself still stands. Use a neighbour, a friend or a colleague instead. - 4
Date it, and keep it as one document
Step 4Write the date on the will. If you make changes later, sign and witness the whole document again rather than adding notes to the old one.
Witnessing by video call was allowed temporarily during the pandemic, but that rule ended on 31 January 2024. Every will signed in England and Wales now needs two witnesses who are physically in the room with you.
Where wills go wrong
The mistakes that cause a dispute or invalidate a will
Most contested wills fail for one of a small number of reasons, and all of them are avoidable.
What holds up
- Naming people and shares exactly, for example "40% to my daughter Sarah Jones" rather than "divide equally among my family"
- Listing the property, accounts and specific items you want to leave to someone, so nothing is left to be assumed
- Naming someone to handle digital accounts, photos and any cryptocurrency, with instructions for how to access them
- Telling your executor where the signed will is kept
- Writing a new will straight after a marriage, since marriage cancels an old one automatically
What gets challenged
- Vague wording that leaves beneficiaries to argue over what was meant
- Leaving a gift to a witness or their spouse, which voids that particular gift even though the will stands
- Writing the will while a family member is applying obvious pressure, which can later be challenged as undue influence
- Letting an old will stand after a divorce or a new marriage without checking it still says what you want
- Leaving digital accounts out of the will entirely, so a family cannot access photos, savings apps or online accounts afterwards
Divorce does not cancel a will the way marriage does, but the law treats a former spouse as though they had died on the day the divorce became final, so they cannot inherit or act as executor under an old will unless the will says otherwise. It is worth checking the will after a divorce anyway, since the rest of it stands exactly as written.
Storing and updating it
Storing it safely and keeping it current
A will nobody can find, or one that describes a life you no longer lead, causes almost the same problems as never having written one.
Keep the original somewhere safe, and tell your executor
Keep a copy, clearly marked as a copy
Review it every three to five years
Review it straight after a marriage, divorce, birth or bereavement
None of this replaces the practical support your parent may need day to day. If that is also on your list, you can search vetted carers near them or use the care cost calculator to see what help in their area typically costs, while the will gets settled separately.
Questions
Questions families ask about writing a will
A DIY kit is the cheapest option at around £10, but it comes with no legal check, so it is best kept for the simplest situations only: no property, one beneficiary, nothing likely to be disputed. A free charity scheme gets a solicitor to write a simple will for no fee, which carries far less risk for a similar cost.
No. Will-writing is not a regulated profession in the UK, so anyone can write their own or use a will-writer. A solicitor is worth the extra cost for an overseas property, a business, a blended family, or any situation where a dispute is likely, because only solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The rules of intestacy decide who inherits, not your family. A surviving spouse or civil partner receives the first £322,000 of the estate plus personal possessions, then shares what is left with any children. An unmarried partner, however long they lived together, has no automatic right to inherit at all. Gov.uk explains who inherits under intestacy.
Two witnesses, both 18 or over, both watching you sign at the same time. A witness cannot be a beneficiary or the beneficiary's husband, wife or civil partner, or the gift to them becomes void. Witnessing by video call ended on 31 January 2024, so witnesses must be in the room in person.
Yes. Marrying or forming a civil partnership automatically revokes an existing will in England and Wales, unless the will was specifically written in contemplation of that marriage and says so. Divorce does not cancel a will, but a former spouse is treated as though they had died for the purpose of any gift or executorship left to them.
Only if they have testamentary capacity at the time of signing, meaning they understand what a will does, roughly what they own, and who might expect to benefit. A solicitor can assess and record this at the appointment. If your parent has already lost that capacity, a will is no longer possible, and applying to become their deputy is usually the next step. What a deputyship application costs explains what that involves.
Every three to five years as routine, and straight away after a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a bereavement, or buying or selling a property. Marriage cancels an old will outright, so that is the change to act on fastest.