Do I Need to Register My Will?

A will does not need to be registered anywhere to be legally valid or to take effect. Its validity depends entirely on meeting the requirements of the Wills Act 1837: being in writing, signed, and witnessed correctly by two people. You can complete these steps and your will is fully valid whether or not it is entered into any register at all.

This is a common source of confusion, partly because some optional private registers use language like 'register your will', which sounds like an official legal step but is really just a record-keeping service, similar in principle to noting down where an important document is kept.

There are commercial services in England and Wales that will record the fact that you have made a will and where it is stored, for a fee, so that if a solicitor or executor searches the register after your death, they can find out where the physical document is held. This can be useful, particularly if you move house, change solicitors, or worry about paperwork being lost or forgotten over time.

These registers do not hold the content of your will, only a record of its existence and location, and using one is entirely a matter of personal choice rather than a legal necessity. Many people never use one and rely instead on simply telling the right people directly.

What genuinely matters is that your signed original will is stored somewhere safe and can actually be found when needed. A will that cannot be located after death causes real problems, sometimes leading to an estate being administered as though there were no will at all, under the intestacy rules, even though a valid will existed somewhere.

Common storage options include a fireproof safe at home, storage with a solicitor for a small fee, or storage with a specialist will storage company. Wherever you choose, the most important step is simply telling your executors, or another trusted person, exactly where the original document is kept.

Beyond deciding where to store the original, keep a note somewhere accessible, such as with important documents or shared with a close family member, saying that you have made a will and roughly where it is kept. This does not need to reveal the contents, just the fact of its existence and its location.

If you update your will later, make sure the earlier version is clearly destroyed or marked as superseded, and that whoever knows where your will is stored is told about the update, so there is no confusion between an old and a current version after your death.

When you make your will through My Posh Will, you receive the completed document along with clear signing and witnessing instructions, and lifetime access to edit and re-download it, which makes it easy to keep a digital copy safely alongside the signed paper original.

Registration is not something you need to arrange through the service, since it has no bearing on legal validity, but you are free to use a commercial register if you want the extra reassurance of a searchable record, alongside telling your executors directly where the signed document is kept.