Writing A DIY Will
DIY will templates UK: your free downloads
Three free DIY will templates, each covering a different family situation, with zero data sharing and nothing to sell you. Each is a PDF you download, print and complete by hand, so they work best for straightforward estates: a small number of specific legacies and a limited number of beneficiaries. Before you fill anything in, please read the How To Guide for Creating a Will first. Done properly, signed and witnessed correctly, any of these is as legally valid as a solicitor-drafted will. The responsibility for getting that right sits with you, but the guide makes it straightforward. If you want extra peace of mind, asking a solicitor to review your completed will rather than draft it from scratch is considerably cheaper, typically a fixed fee rather than an hourly charge, and worth considering.
1. ADULT ONLY
A will where there are no children under 18 to be looked after or named as direct beneficiaries (for example, where you are naming a spouse or an adult child or children, or other adult family members or friends as beneficiaries). This will does allow for where children might be indirect beneficiaries as a result of the death of a direct beneficiary however.
2. ADULT and CHILD
A will where there is at least one adult beneficiary but also (at least at the point the will was made) a child or children under 18 to be looked after by trustees and guardians, even if they are not intended to be direct beneficiaries (for example, where there might be a surviving partner as beneficiary, who will look after the child/children).
3. CHILD ONLY
A will where there was only one or more beneficiaries who were under the age of 18 at the time the will was made, and so potentially require trustees and guardians to look after them until they reach 18 (if they reach 18 before the testator dies, this is no problem).
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About the founder. I'm Alex Johnson, and I built Not So Grave after my father died suddenly in 2023. Going through his estate taught me more about death planning than any guide I could find at the time, partly because of the documents he'd left, and partly because of the gaps where he hadn't. I'm not a solicitor or a financial adviser, and I'll always tell you when to use one. What I am is someone who's been through it and wants to make your turn easier.
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