Who can witness and sign a will?

In order for the will to be valid, your witness must be:

• Aged 18 and over (or 16 in Scotland)
• Someone with ‘capacity’, meaning they must have the ability to understand what they are signing.
• Not related to the person making the will (the testator) or have any personal interest in the will. Ideally this could be a family friend or neighbour.

There are some differences regarding who can witness a will across the UK. For example, in England and Wales, you will need two independent witnesses, whereas the law in Scotland simply requires one witness or more.

The witness to the will should be an independent person, which excludes married partners. If the beneficiary or testator's spouse or civil partner witnesses the will, this does not invalidate the will, but the beneficiary forfeits the right to their share of the estate.

Yes, the person making the will can instruct someone else, such as a solicitor, to sign a will on their behalf. Once the document is signed, the will itself does not need to be approved or registered by a solicitor.

You might be able to store your will in a solicitor's office if you'd rather not keep it at home.

Yes, a stranger can be a witness to a will, but this is normally inadvisable. This is because the witness could in theory be called upon to testify that the will was executed correctly. Ideally, the witness should be easy to locate and a reliable person.

If a witness or witnesses to a will pass away, the will remains valid. However, it's possible that during the probate process, the executor would be required to submit proof that the signature is valid. For this reason, if a witness had died, some people choose to write a new will or amend their existing one, known as a codicil.

If a will isn't properly witnessed, it could be declared invalid by a court. This would mean that an earlier will would be considered the valid document, or if there is no previous will, the rules of intestacy would apply.

In theory, anyone can contest a will, and a court would ultimately rule whether there was valid grounds for challenging the will.

Aside from beneficiaries and their spouse or civil partner, you can’t witness a will if you’re blind or partially sighted. This is because the witness needs to physically see the act of putting pen to paper.

Witnessing a will isn’t simply a legal obligation. For a will to be valid it must be signed by the testator and their signature must be made or acknowledged in the presence of two witnesses. The witness must be present at the same time and must also attest and sign the will. 

In Scotland, a will needs to be signed by the granter (the individual creating the will) at the bottom of each page. The granters signature should also be witnessed by one independent adult witness. Which in this case means anyone over the age of 16 can witness a signature.