When Do You Need a Solicitor for a Will?

The short answer: most people do not. The majority of adults in England and Wales have a straightforward estate that a well-drafted DIY will kit handles perfectly well. But some situations genuinely require a solicitor — and knowing the difference could save your family thousands of pounds and years of stress. This guide gives you an honest checklist.

You probably do not need a solicitor if…

Solicitors are excellent at what they do, but you do not always need one to write a valid, effective will. If the following describe your situation, a DIY will kit is very likely all you need:

• ✓Your estate is straightforward. You have a home, savings, a pension, and personal possessions — and you know clearly who you want to inherit them.
• ✓You do not need complex trusts. You are not trying to set up a discretionary trust, a life interest trust, or a trust for a vulnerable beneficiary.
• ✓All your property is in England or Wales. You do not own real estate in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or any other country.
• ✓You have no significant business interests. No shares in a private company, no partnership interests, no sole trader assets that need careful succession planning.
• ✓You are married or in a civil partnership leaving everything to each other and your children. This is by far the most common will structure in the UK, and it fits neatly into a standard template.
• ✓There are no likely disputes. Your family knows your intentions and no one has a realistic claim against your estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• ✓Your estate is below the inheritance tax threshold. The nil-rate band is currently £325,000, with additional allowances for family homes. If your estate is comfortably within these thresholds, you do not need IHT planning.

This description fits the majority of will-makers in England and Wales. A well-drafted template, correctly signed and witnessed, produces a will that is just as legally valid as one drafted by a solicitor — because the law makes no distinction between them.

You should use a solicitor if…

The situations below involve legal complexity that a template cannot resolve. In these cases, a solicitor's fee is not an extravagance — it is protection for your family. A contested will can cost £50,000 to £100,000 or more to resolve at trial.

1. You have a blended family

If you have children from a previous relationship and a current spouse or partner, there is a genuine legal tension between providing for your partner and protecting your children's inheritance. Without careful drafting — often using a life interest trust — your children may receive nothing if your surviving partner later remarries or leaves everything to their own family. A solicitor can structure a will that is fair to both.

• ✗DIY template cannot draft a life interest trust for this scenario
• ✗Without a trust, a surviving spouse inherits outright and can change their own will

2. You own a business

Business assets — shares in a private company, a partnership interest, or a sole trader business — need to interact properly with your shareholders' agreement or partnership deed. You may also want to claim Business Property Relief (BPR), which can exempt up to 100% of qualifying business assets from inheritance tax. A solicitor experienced in business succession will make sure your will does not inadvertently trigger a forced sale or conflict with your business documents.

3. You own property outside England and Wales

Different countries have different succession laws. France, Spain, and many other countries have “forced heirship” rules that give certain relatives an automatic right to a share of your estate — regardless of what your UK will says. If you own a holiday home abroad, you may need a separate will in that jurisdiction, drafted by a local lawyer. A UK solicitor with international private client experience can advise on how to coordinate your wills to avoid conflicts.

4. A family member might contest the will

If you are disinheriting an adult child, cutting out a financially dependent family member, or making gifts that you know will be unpopular, a solicitor adds a layer of protection. They can make a file note of your mental capacity and the reasons for your decisions, arrange a medical assessment if needed, and draft the will in a way that minimises the grounds for challenge under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

• ✗A DIY will carries no professional paper trail of your capacity at the time of signing
• ✗Solicitor file notes are strong evidence if the will is challenged years later

5. Your estate may be subject to inheritance tax

If your estate exceeds the nil-rate band (£325,000) after accounting for all assets including your home, savings, investments, life insurance held in your own name, and any gifts made in the last seven years, inheritance tax planning is worth taking seriously. Legitimate strategies — nil-rate band discretionary trusts, spousal exemptions used efficiently, potentially exempt transfers, agricultural property relief — can save tens of thousands of pounds. These need to be built into your will by someone who understands the relevant legislation.

6. You want to set up a trust for a minor or vulnerable beneficiary

If you have a child under 18, your will should already hold their share on statutory trust until they reach adulthood — a standard template handles this. But if you want to hold assets until a later age (21, 25, or beyond), or if you have a disabled or vulnerable beneficiary who needs a carefully structured disabled person's trust, you need bespoke drafting. The tax treatment of such trusts is complex, and errors are costly.

7. You have recently divorced or separated

Divorce does not revoke a will in England and Wales, but it does treat your former spouse as having died on the date the decree absolute was granted. This affects executor appointments and specific gifts, but gifts to your former spouse that pass “on trust” or as residue may fail and fall into intestacy. Separation without a formal divorce makes things even more complicated — your separated spouse remains your legal next of kin. After any major relationship change, a solicitor can help you understand exactly what your current will achieves and whether a new one is needed.

The middle ground: DIY kit plus a solicitor review

If your estate is broadly straightforward but you want professional reassurance, consider a hybrid approach: use a DIY will kit to draft your will, then pay a solicitor to review the completed document before you sign it.

A solicitor review typically costs £75 to £150 — a fraction of the £200 to £500 fee for drafting a will from scratch. The solicitor checks your structure, catches any ambiguities, and confirms that your signing arrangements will be correct. Many high-street firms and online legal services offer this as a fixed-fee service.

This is the best of both worlds: you keep the convenience and low cost of a DIY kit, and you get the peace of mind of professional oversight.

How much does a solicitor charge to write a will?

Solicitor fees for will-writing vary significantly by location, firm, and complexity. As a general guide for England and Wales in 2026:

Always request a written fixed-fee quote before instructing a solicitor. Be cautious about solicitors who want to be named as your executor — their firm may charge 1% to 5% of the estate value when you die, which on a £400,000 estate is £4,000 to £20,000.

What a DIY will kit can do — and what it cannot

To be clear about what you are getting with a WillSafe UK will kit:

Frequently asked questions