Home / FAQs / What are the basic legal requirements for a valid Will?

What are the basic legal requirements for a valid Will?

31/07/2025

A Will must be in writing, signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses who also sign it. It does not need to be dated to be valid. The Testator must be over 18 and be of sound mind.

31/07/2025

Back to top

Would you like to know more?

For help and advice, talk to a member of our team. They can advise on the best options in your matter.

Call: 01708 229 444 Email us

Upminster

Pinney Talfourd Solicitors
54 Station Road
Upminster
Essex
RM14 2TU

DX: 35555 Upminster

T: 01708 229 444
F: 01708 202 132
E: upminster@pinneytalfourd.co.uk

Brentwood

Pinney Talfourd Solicitors
30 High Street
Brentwood
Essex
CM14 4AJ

DX: 5003 Brentwood

T: 01277 211 755
F: 01708 202 132
E: brentwood@pinneytalfourd.co.uk

Hornchurch

Pinney Talfourd Solicitors
40 North Street
Hornchurch
Essex
RM11 1EW

DX: 51004 Hornchurch

T: 01708 511 000
F: 01708 202 132
E: hornchurch@pinneytalfourd.co.uk

Chelmsford

Pinney Talfourd Solicitors
Elizabeth House
28 Baddow Road
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 0DG

T: 01245 206 684
E: mail@pinneytalfourd.co.uk

Canary Wharf

Pinney Talfourd Solicitors
18th Floor
40 Bank Street
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AB

By appointment only. Please send all written correspondence to our Upminster office.

T: 020 3105 0305
E: canarywharf@pinneytalfourd.co.uk

Pinney Talfourd LLP. Registered office address: 54 Station Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2TU, United Kingdom. Company No: OC324736

Cookie	Duration	Description
__cf_bm	1 hour	This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
__hssc	1 hour	HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of sessions and to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie.
__hssrc	session	This cookie is set by Hubspot whenever it changes the session cookie. The __hssrc cookie set to 1 indicates that the user has restarted the browser, and if the cookie does not exist, it is assumed to be a new session.
_GRECAPTCHA	5 months 27 days	This cookie is set by the Google recaptcha service to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	1 year	Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent	1 year	Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
wp_law_pdfbuilder_bespoke	1 Year	Needed for the saving of profiles for PDFs functionality to work
wp_law_pdfbuilder_list	1 Year	Needed for the saving of profiles for PDFs functionality to work

Cookie	Duration	Description
__hstc	6 months	Hubspot set this main cookie for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).
_ga	2 years	The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_*	1 year 1 month 4 days	Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
_gat_gtag_UA_*	1 minute	Google Analytics sets this cookie to store a unique user ID.
_gcl_au	3 months	Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid	1 day	Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT	2 years	YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
hubspotutk	6 months	HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts.
sbjs_current	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_current_add	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_first	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_first_add	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_migrations	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_session	1 hour	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.
sbjs_udata	session	Sourcebuster sets this cookie to identify the source of a visit and stores user action information in cookies. This analytical and behavioural cookie is used to enhance the visitor experience on the website.

Cookie	Duration	Description
PREF	8 months	PREF cookie is set by Youtube to store user preferences like language, format of search results and other customizations for YouTube Videos embedded in different sites.
test_cookie	15 minutes	doubleclick.net sets this cookie to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE	5 months 27 days	A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA	6 months	YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain.
YSC	session	YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices	never	YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id	never	YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.

Cookie	Duration	Description
MoneypennyHistory	1 year	MoneyPenny sets this cookie as part of the chat software used to enable live chat on a website.
MoneypennyRef	2 hours	MoneyPenny sets this cookie as part of the chat software used to enable live chat on a website.
MoneypennyUserAlias	1 year	MoneyPenny sets this cookie as part of the chat software used to enable live chat on a website.
MoneypennyVisit	session	MoneyPenny sets this cookie to tacking usage for live chat usage.

What are the basic legal requirements for a valid Will?

Back to top

Would you like to know more?

Search

Menu