InHouse Wills & Probate
Signing a Will
Unless correctly ‘attested’ (signed, with witnesses), a Will is meaningless. Having your Will writer supervise the process reduces the chances of problems. If you witness a Will, it means you cannot benefit from the Will.
Signing a Will
There is a lot of confusion around something as basic as the signing of a Will. These notes should help to dispel a few myths.
A Will that is not signed is useless. It has absolutely no significance and even if the person really did mean to sign it a court will disregard an unsigned document.
A Will needs to be signed, in the presence of 2 witnesses who then each sign. If any of the signatures are made with any of the 3 out of the room then the Will is not valid.
Normally the witnesses do not know the content of the Will, unless the testator chooses to tell them.
If someone cannot read (for whatever reason) the Will can be read to them before it is then signed. If someone cannot physically sign they can direct someone to sign on their behalf. In both of these situations special wording will be required on the Will to record what happened and to ensure validity.
If there is any realistic possibility of the Will be challenged in the future, it is particularly important to have witnesses who are likely to still be around and who could provide credible testimony if needed.
A ‘beneficiary ‘ is someone who will benefit from a Will. If a beneficiary (or their spouse/civil partner) acts as witness then the Will is valid, but they lose their benefit. So if you witness a Will, you can be sure you will get nothing from it.
(this is not to be confused with the role of Executor - a beneficiary CAN also act as Executor)
A common mistake occurs when a couple makes Wills at the same time. It is all too easy for them to swap and sign each other’s (yes, it DOES happen).
For these and other reasons it is good practice for the execution of your Will to be supervised by your Will writer. If you choose to do it on your own, you should still have it checked afterwards.
Once it is signed the Will needs to be kept safe, somewhere it will be found later. You should consider using professional Will storage and at InHouse we normally include that as part of our service at no extra charge.