Everything people ask us about UK wills.

Trusted Hands is a UK will-writing service. We help you create a legally compliant will under the Wills Act 1837 - online, at your own pace. We also offer Lasting Power of Attorney preparation packs and an encrypted Digital Vault for storing important documents. Every will includes a free Executor Pack for the people you have chosen to act for you.

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A plain-English guide we include free with every will. It walks your executor through what to do after your death — the first seven days, registering the death, applying for probate, inheritance tax, distributing the estate, and when to call a solicitor. The idea is your executor isn't left guessing during the worst week of their life.

You can read it now and print or save a copy to hand to the person you've named.

Read the Executor Pack →

Most people complete a will in 15–30 minutes. The Smart Will Engine adapts to your situation, so you only answer questions that actually apply.

Start a single will →

Yes — an account lets you save your draft, come back any time, and securely store your finished will and documents in your Digital Vault. Registration is free; you only pay when you finalise.

Create an account →

Yes — provided it is signed and witnessed correctly. Trusted Hands produces wills that follow the requirements of the Wills Act 1837 (England & Wales). We provide a step-by-step Guided Witness Mode so you sign it the right way in front of two independent adult witnesses.

Save your progress and come back any time — your draft is held securely in your account. If something is genuinely tricky (foreign assets, business interests, blended families) our Complexity Detector flags it during the build so you can address it before signing.

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Yes — the builder works on phones, tablets and desktops. The print-ready PDF is best opened on a desktop or tablet for the final sign-off step, but every other part of the journey is mobile-first.

• Single will — one person's will. Right for individuals or anyone whose plans differ from a partner's.
• Mirror wills — two separate but almost identical wills, usually for couples. Either of you can change yours later, independently.
• Joint will — one document signed by two people. Less common; harder to change once one of you dies.
• Mutual wills — two wills that legally bind each other. After the first death, the survivor cannot change theirs. Used where certainty matters — often blended families.

Compare all four →

Yes. Without a will, your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules, which may not match your wishes — partners you aren't married to, friends, godchildren and chosen charities can be left out entirely. A single will from £49 makes your wishes clear.

Start a single will →

Mirror wills can still work even when the contents differ — "mirror" just means two tied wills made together. You each fill in your own. If your wishes diverge significantly, two separate single wills may be cleaner. The Will Wizard can help you pick.

Many blended families choose mutual wills for the certainty that the surviving partner cannot rewrite the agreement to disinherit the other partner's children. It's powerful but restrictive — the builder walks you through the binding agreement so you understand what you're committing to.

Learn about mutual wills →

Yes — before you finalise. If you start a Single Will and decide partway through that mirror wills suit better, contact support and we'll move you across. Once a will is signed (wet-ink), changing the type means starting a fresh will.

Depends on the ownership type. Joint tenants: the property passes to the surviving owner automatically and is outside your will. Tenants in common: your share passes under your will. Our Complexity Detector flags shared property so you can address it during the build.

Prices start at £49 for a single will. Mirror wills (couples) are £179, joint wills £189, mutual wills £199. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.

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No. The price you see is the price you pay. There's no charge to start, save drafts, or store your will and LPAs in the Digital Vault. The only optional add-ons are LPA preparation packs (which save you 20–25% when bundled with a will) and our Annual Subscription with Family Vault — which lets you re-issue your will/LPAs any time and unlocks the vault for insurance, deeds, identity, financial papers, funeral wishes and more.

Add a Lasting Power of Attorney preparation pack to your will purchase and we apply a percentage discount automatically at checkout:

• Will + 1 LPA = 20% off
• Will + both LPAs = 25% off

Worked example: Single Will (£49) + Property & Financial LPA (£99) = £148, less 20% = £118.40.

Add an LPA →

Yes — if you change your mind before downloading the final PDF, contact us within 14 days for a full refund. Once you've downloaded the will (which means you've banked the value), refunds aren't possible.

They don't — mirror wills at £179 work out to £89.50 per partner, well under the cost of two separate single wills. The lower per-person price reflects that the second partner builds alongside the first using a shared account.

Yes — we use Stripe for secure card payments. We never see or store your card details. You'll get an emailed receipt the moment payment clears.

You pay once for both partners. After payment, your dashboard shows an "Invite your spouse" panel — enter their email and we send them a private link. They click it, log in (or create an account using that email), and they're automatically linked to your household with their tied will paid for at £0.

Choose mirror wills →

Yes — mirror wills are usually similar but not identical. Each of you fills in your own executors, beneficiaries, gifts and guardians. "Mirror" simply means tied wills written together, not carbon copies.

Mirror wills can each be revoked independently — just create a new will, which automatically revokes the older one. Mutual wills are harder to unwind because they're legally binding on each other; if your relationship is uncertain, mirror is usually the safer choice.

Whenever suits you. The invite link doesn't expire on a fixed timer — you can send it the day you finish, or weeks later from your dashboard.

No — if they don't have one, the invite link prompts them to create an account using the email you sent the invite to. Free, no extra payment.

Not during the initial build — you fill in the joint document on your own. Once you've finished, your spouse is invited to log in and review the completed joint will, then confirm and acknowledge before you both sign together in front of two witnesses.

Learn about joint wills →

Two adults (18+) who are not beneficiaries of your will and not married to or in a civil partnership with anyone who is. Friends, neighbours and colleagues are usually fine. Both must be present at the same time when you sign, and you must all watch each other sign.

Yes — provided they aren't a beneficiary, executor's spouse, or otherwise inheriting under the will. A family member who isn't named anywhere in the document is fine.

It's a step-by-step on-screen walkthrough of the signing ritual: where to put your signature, where the witnesses sign, what to say, and what to do with the original. It's the part of will-writing people get wrong most often, so we made it idiot-proof.

Don't try to fix it on the document — corrections on a signed will can invalidate it. Print a fresh copy and start the signing again. The Digital Vault keeps your master copy ready to re-print.

No — under the Wills Act 1837, an English & Welsh will must be signed in wet ink on paper, in front of two witnesses present at the same time. Digital signatures aren't valid for wills.

No — witnesses just need to see you sign and confirm the signature is yours. They don't need to know the contents of the will.

Somewhere safe and known to your executors — a fireproof home safe, a solicitor's strongroom, or with a dedicated will-storage service. Tell at least one executor where it lives. The Digital Vault holds an encrypted copy for reference, but the wet-ink original is the one that matters in probate.

Tell them. Trusted Hands also lets you formally invite each executor — they receive an email with a private link to a secure executor portal that activates only when we are notified, with appropriate documentation, that you have died.

Yes. The simplest path is to write a fresh will — signing a new will automatically revokes the old one. Our Annual Subscription with Family Vault includes unlimited will/LPA updates over the year (and unlocks the Family Vault) for a small fee. Without the subscription, a fresh will is £49.

Annual Subscription with Family Vault →

No — alterations to a signed will are usually invalid unless they're separately witnessed. The right approach is a codicil (a small amending document, also witnessed) or a fresh will. We recommend the latter for clarity.

Indefinitely, until you make a new will or formally revoke this one. There's no expiry. We recommend reviewing your will every 3–5 years and after major life events — marriage, children, house purchase, divorce.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) lets people you trust make decisions for you if you ever become unable to. There are two types: Property & Financial Affairs (paying bills, managing investments, selling a property) and Health & Welfare (medical decisions, care home choices). They work alongside your will, not instead of it.

Learn about LPAs →

They cover different things. A will deals with what happens after you die. An LPA covers what happens if you're alive but unable to make decisions for yourself — due to illness, an accident, or dementia. Most adults benefit from having both.

We provide a preparation pack — the completed forms ready for you to sign, witness, and send to the OPG with the registration fee. We don't currently file the registration on your behalf, but the pack is built so you can do it without legal training.

Yes — add a Property & Financial LPA at will checkout for 20% off the combined total, or both LPA types for 25% off. The discount applies automatically.

Add an LPA to my will →

No. Trusted Hands is a will-writing service, not a regulated law firm. Our advisors are trained will writers but do not provide regulated legal advice.

Will-writing is not currently a regulated activity in England & Wales, but we hold ourselves to the standards of the Wills Act 1837 and best-practice will-writing codes. See our legal & compliance notes for the full picture.

The law of England & Wales. If you are domiciled outside England & Wales (Scotland, Northern Ireland, or another country), you should seek local legal advice as the rules differ. Our builder asks about your domicile so we can flag this if needed.

The Smart Will Engine flags foreign assets in the Complexity Detector. A Trusted Hands will can still cover them, but property in another country usually needs a separate will under that country's law alongside your English & Welsh one.

Start your will →

Your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules. These follow a fixed order — spouse first, then children, then parents, and so on — regardless of what you might have wanted. Unmarried partners, friends, godchildren and chosen charities receive nothing under intestacy.

Anyone with standing can apply to challenge a will, but valid wills are very rarely overturned. The most common challenges are around mental capacity at the time of signing and undue influence — both of which our attestations step records explicitly to give your will a strong audit trail.

Files in your Digital Vault are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. Card payments are handled by Stripe and never touch our servers. We are UK GDPR compliant. You can request a full data export or deletion at any time. Read our privacy notice for the detail.

No. We do not and will never sell your personal data. We don't share it with third parties beyond what's strictly required to deliver the service (e.g. Stripe for payments, our email provider for receipts). We are UK GDPR compliant.

Yes. From your account settings you can request a full data export and account deletion. Once deleted, your will draft and any uploaded documents are permanently removed. If you have a finalised will already paid for, we keep the minimal record needed to honour the executor portal — this is detailed in our privacy notice.

Use the Forgot password link on the login page. We email a reset link to the address on your account. If you no longer have access to that email, contact support and we'll verify your identity through alternative means.