Does a Will Need to Be Notarised?

Some countries operate what is known as a civil law system, where wills are commonly made before a notary as a matter of course, sometimes as the only valid way to make a will at all. England and Wales operate a different system, and the Wills Act 1837 sets out its own self-contained formalities that do not reference notaries at all.

The English and Welsh approach instead relies on lay witnesses, ordinary people who are present when the testator signs, to attest that the signing genuinely happened and that the person signing appeared to know what they were doing. This system has operated largely unchanged for well over a century and does not require any professional or official involvement.

Under section 9, the testator must sign the will, or acknowledge an existing signature, in the presence of two witnesses who are both present together at the same time, and each of those witnesses must then also sign the will in the presence of the testator. The witnesses do not need any legal or professional qualification whatsoever.

They do, however, need to be independent in a specific sense: under section 15 of the Wills Act 1837, if a witness (or their spouse or civil partner) is also a beneficiary under the will, that witness's gift is void, although the rest of the will remains valid. The will is not invalidated by this, but the gift to that person or their spouse is lost. It is therefore important to choose witnesses who are not beneficiaries and not married to or in a civil partnership with a beneficiary.

It is worth being clear about what witnesses are actually confirming when they sign. They are attesting that they saw the testator sign the will, or heard them acknowledge their existing signature, and that they then signed it themselves in the testator's presence. They are not certifying that they have read or approved the contents of the will, and there is no requirement for them to know what the will says.

This is quite different from what a notary does in other contexts, which typically involves verifying identity and sometimes the content or effect of a document. English and Welsh will witnessing is deliberately a simpler, lay process, focused entirely on confirming the mechanics of signing took place correctly.

Although notarising the will itself is not required, a notary's services might still be relevant to related matters, such as authenticating documents needed to deal with property or assets you own abroad, particularly in countries that do apply a notarial system to their own succession processes. This is a separate question from whether your English will is valid.

If you have overseas assets, especially property in a country with a civil law inheritance system, you may need separate advice on whether a local will is also needed, and how it should interact with your English will, since the two systems can otherwise conflict. This is a specialist area worth discussing with a solicitor experienced in cross-border estates.

Because notarisation is not required, paying for it in relation to a straightforward English and Welsh will adds cost without adding legal validity. It does not make an otherwise correctly signed and witnessed will 'more valid', and it is not a substitute for getting the witnessing right if that has been done incorrectly.

The genuinely important step, whether you use an online will service or a solicitor, is making sure the signing and witnessing formalities under section 9 are followed precisely. Get that right, and no further certification, notarisation or official stamp is needed for the will to be legally effective.