How to Make a Will

Your executor is responsible for administering your estate after you die: collecting in assets, paying debts, and distributing what is left according to your will. Choose someone organised and willing to take this on, and name a backup in case they cannot act when the time comes. Many people choose a spouse, adult child or close friend, sometimes alongside a professional executor for more complex estates.

It is worth asking the person before naming them, since being an executor involves real work, from registering the death and valuing the estate to completing tax forms and eventually distributing money to beneficiaries. Someone who feels ambushed by the role after your death is less likely to deal with it smoothly than someone who agreed to it in advance and understands roughly what is involved.

Think about any specific gifts you want to make, such as a sum of money to a friend or a particular item to a family member, and then decide how the residue of your estate should be divided. The residue is everything left once debts, funeral costs and specific gifts are accounted for, and most wills leave this in defined shares to one or more beneficiaries, with a backup named in case a beneficiary dies before you.

If you have children under 18, you can also name a guardian in your will to look after them if both parents are no longer around, which is one of the most important reasons parents choose to make a will.

When thinking about specific gifts, be as precise as possible. "My engagement ring" is clearer than "my jewellery" if you own several pieces, and "£5,000 to my nephew James Smith" is clearer than simply "some money to James", particularly if more than one person in the family shares that name.

Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 sets out what makes a will valid: it must be in writing, signed by you with the intention that your signature gives effect to the will, and signed or acknowledged in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the same time. Each witness must then also sign the will, in your presence.

You also need testamentary capacity when you sign, meaning you understand what a will is, roughly what you own, and who might expect to benefit, and you must not be under pressure from anyone else to make the will a particular way.

Once signed, keep your will somewhere safe and dry, such as a fireproof box at home, with a solicitor, or in a will storage service, and make sure your executor knows where to find it. A will that cannot be located after death can cause serious delays and expense for your family.

If your estate might be liable for inheritance tax, includes business or agricultural assets, property abroad, a blended family, a likely dispute, or a dependant who cannot manage their own affairs and needs a trust, you should speak to a solicitor rather than relying solely on a standard will.

Some assets pass outside your will regardless of what it says. Property owned as joint tenants usually passes automatically to the surviving owner, and life insurance or pension death benefits are often paid according to a separate nomination form held by the provider, not by the will. It is worth checking these arrangements alongside making a will, since assuming your will controls everything can lead to gifts you intended not actually reaching the person you had in mind.

This does not make a will less important, since most people still have savings, personal possessions and sometimes property held in their sole name that do need to be dealt with through the will, alongside the guardianship and executor decisions a will alone can make.