# Do Wills Have to Be Registered in the UK?

> Source: https://purewill.co.uk/guides/do-i-need-to-register-my-will (updated 25 October 2026)

**Short answer:** No. A will is valid in England and Wales without being registered anywhere. A voluntary register does exist, and it is worth using. Here is how it works.

## No, there is no legal requirement to register a will

A will in England and Wales is valid the moment it is signed and witnessed correctly. Nothing has to be filed, recorded or registered with any authority for it to take effect, and most wills are never registered anywhere.

So if you are asking whether you have missed a compulsory step, you have not. There is no central register every will must appear on, and no penalty for staying off it.

## A voluntary register does exist

The National Will Register, run by Certainty, records the fact that your will exists and where the original is kept. It does not hold the will itself, and being on it makes no difference to whether the will is legally valid.

Its value is practical. When someone dies, solicitors and probate professionals can search the register to check whether a will was ever made. That search is a routine part of administering an estate, and it is the main way a forgotten will gets found.

Registration costs somewhere around £30 and takes about ten minutes online.

## Are all wills registered? No

Only a small minority of wills appear on the register. If a search comes back empty, that does not mean no will exists, only that nobody recorded one. Which is precisely the argument for registering: it turns a guess into a definite answer.

## Where to keep the original

Registration only helps if the original document is somewhere findable. The usual options:

**At home**, in a fireproof box or safe. Convenient and free, but it depends entirely on your executor knowing where to look.

**With a solicitor.** Most firms store wills free of charge for their clients. Reliable, though your executor needs to know which firm holds it.

**With a bank**, where they still offer it as a service.

**With HM Courts and Tribunals Service.** You can deposit a will with the Probate Service for a small fee, which creates a formal, permanent record.

## The real risk is not invalidity, it is disappearance

Wills rarely fail because they were drafted badly. They fail because nobody can find them. If the original never surfaces, the estate is distributed under the intestacy rules regardless of what the will actually said, and the people you chose can end up with nothing.

The cheapest protection costs nothing at all. Tell someone. Your executor, your spouse or a close family member should know that a will exists, where the original is kept, and which firm holds it if it is with a solicitor.

## What we would do

Write the will. Sign it properly. Tell your executor where it is. If you want belt and braces on top of that, register it. There is no downside, and the cost is small next to the disruption of a will nobody can locate.

## With PureWill

PureWill produces a will you print, sign and witness yourself, so you keep the original and you decide where it lives. Signing and storage instructions come with every will. We do not register wills on your behalf, so if you want yours on the National Will Register you would arrange that separately through Certainty.

Related reading: [When should I update my will?](https://purewill.co.uk/guides/when-should-i-update-my-will), [What is a codicil?](https://purewill.co.uk/guides/what-is-a-codicil) and [What happens if you die without a will in the UK?](https://purewill.co.uk/guides/what-happens-if-you-die-without-a-will-uk)

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