Do I Need to Register My Will?

No legal requirement

England and Wales has no mandatory will registration system. You can write a perfectly valid will, sign it correctly, and store it wherever you like without registering it anywhere. Most wills never get formally registered.

That said, registration is available, it is inexpensive, and there are good reasons to consider it.

What registration does

The National Will Register (run by Certainty, the UK's official service) stores a record of your will — not the will itself, but the fact that it exists and where it is held. When someone dies, solicitors and probate professionals can search the register to check whether a will exists. This can prevent an estate from being administered under the rules of intestacy when a valid will actually exists but nobody knew where to look.

Registration costs around £30 and can be done online.

Where to store your will

Registration is only useful if your will is also physically secure. Common options:

At home in a fireproof box or safe: convenient, but relies on your executor knowing where it is.

With your solicitor: solicitors typically store wills free of charge for clients. Reliable, but you need to tell your executor which solicitor holds it.

With a bank: some banks offer will storage as part of their services.

With HM Courts and Tribunals Service: you can deposit your will with the Principal Registry of the Family Division for a small fee. This is a formal, permanent record.

The real risk is that nobody can find it

The most common practical problem is not that a will is invalid but that it cannot be found after the testator dies. People forget where they stored it, or the executor does not know it exists. In that situation, the estate is distributed under intestacy regardless of what the will says.

The simplest protection is to tell at least one trusted person: your executor, your spouse, or a close family member. Tell them whether a will exists, where it is stored, and if relevant, what solicitor holds it.

Our recommendation

Write your will. Tell your executor where it is. If you want extra peace of mind, spend £30 to register it. There is no downside to registering, and it takes ten minutes.