Is a will made on Velati legally valid?

Yes — provided you sign it correctly. The Wills Act 1837 (as amended) requires the will to be in writing, signed by you in the simultaneous presence of two adult witnesses, who then each sign in your presence. Velati produces a printable will and a signing pack that walks all three of you through the process step by step.

Why physical signing? Why not e-sign?

Between January 2020 and January 2024 the law temporarily allowed remote witnessing by videoconference. That window has closed. Wills in England & Wales must once again be signed in physical presence, on paper. Velati does not produce electronic-only wills.

Who can be a witness?

Any two adults (over 18) of sound mind, who are not beneficiaries under the will and not the spouse or civil partner of any beneficiary. A gift to a witness is void (s.15 Wills Act 1837), but the rest of the will stands. We screen this for you and won't let the will go to print if there's an overlap.

What if my situation is complicated?

Velati is designed for many of the situations that legal templates skip — cohabitation, blended families, single parents, mirror wills. For genuinely high-complexity cases — significant offshore assets, business succession, suspected undue influence, capacity questions, large or contested estates — we route you to a regulated solicitor partner instead of producing a template.

How long does it actually take?

About twenty minutes for the questionnaire and review. Another half an hour to print, find two witnesses and sign. Most people do the whole thing in an evening.

How it works

Twenty minutes online. Half an hour with a pen and two witnesses.

Velati is a guided questionnaire that produces a legally valid will under the Wills Act 1837 for England & Wales. We've broken it down into the smallest set of decisions we can — and we explain every one of them in plain English before you commit to anything.

Start your will

Pre-flight

A 90-second check before you start

Before you spend any time on the questionnaire (or any money), we check four things: that you live in England or Wales, that you're at least 18, that you understand what making a will involves, and that no-one is pressuring you. If any of these don't pass, we tell you why — and where to go instead. We don't take payment for a will we couldn't produce.

Jurisdiction: England & Wales only — Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems.
Age: You must be 18 or over (s.7 Wills Act 1837).
Capacity: The four limbs of the Banks v Goodfellow test, in plain English.
Voluntariness: Your decision, made by you, without pressure.

Questionnaire

Eight steps. Branched to your situation.

Each question pushes or skips sub-steps based on your answers. A cohabiting couple with no children is asked very different questions from a blended family with stepchildren and a small business. Most people answer between thirty and fifty questions in total.

Your situation: Married, cohabiting, blended, single — this routes everything.
About you: Your full legal name (the one on your passport), address, things people might also know you as.
Family & dependants: The persons graph everything else references.
Executors: One required, two recommended, four maximum. We make sure you've actually asked them.
Estate & gifts: Specific items, pecuniary legacies, the residue.
Guardians: If you have minor children, who looks after them.
Trusts: Holding inheritance until your children are old enough.
Letter of wishes: Non-binding, but the most important document if anyone challenges the will.

Plain-English review

Read what your will actually does — before you pay.

The most distinctive thing about Velati is the screen below. Before you see a payment page, you see this: every clause of your will, written in language you can read, with the legal meaning explained. If something is wrong or surprising, you go back and change it. As many times as you need.

velati / drafts / your-review.pdf

Plain-English review

Your will, in plain English

This is what your will actually does — written so you can read it without a lawyer.

For the will of

Maria Catherine O'Brien

Clause 01"Everything I own goes to Sam first."
Your partner Sam Reynolds inherits your whole estate. If Sam dies before you (or within 30 days of you), the gift passes to your two children equally instead.
Clause 02"If something happens to both of us, my sister becomes guardian."
Your sister Hannah Reynolds is appointed legal guardian. The court will respect your choice unless there's a serious welfare concern.
Clause 03"My godson Oliver gets £2,000 specifically."
We set this aside as a pecuniary legacy — a fixed cash gift — paid before the rest of the estate is divided. Oliver's parents administer it on his behalf until he turns 18.

You'll see this screen before you pay. Nothing is final until you've read it.

The will itself

A printable PDF in traditional UK legal style.

The will document itself uses the conventional drafting register a probate registry expects to see — operative verbs in capitals, full revocation clause, attestation block, citation of s.9 Wills Act 1837. The plain-English version stays alongside as your reference; the PDF is the legal document.

Format: A4 portrait, hard page breaks, Cormorant for the document body.
Citation: Every will carries the s.9 Wills Act 1837 attestation on the back page.
Determinism: The same answers always produce the byte-identical document. Tested.

Signing & storing

A signing pack that walks all three of you through it.

Wills Act s.9(1)(c) requires the testator and both witnesses to be in the same physical room at the same time when the will is signed and acknowledged. The signing pack tells you the order, what each person says, where each person signs, and what to do with the original afterwards. It also includes a witness-friendly capacity confirmation — not legally required, but the canonical evidence courts ask for in disputes.

Witnesses: Two adults of sound mind. Not beneficiaries. Not spouses of beneficiaries.
Presence: All three of you in the same room, before pen touches paper.
Order: You sign first, then each witness in turn — both visible to you.
After: Keep the original somewhere safe. The signing pack tells you where.

Common questions

What people ask before they start.

Is a will made on Velati legally valid?
Yes — provided you sign it correctly. The Wills Act 1837 (as amended) requires the will to be in writing, signed by you in the simultaneous presence of two adult witnesses, who then each sign in your presence. Velati produces a printable will and a signing pack that walks all three of you through the process step by step.
Why physical signing? Why not e-sign?
Between January 2020 and January 2024 the law temporarily allowed remote witnessing by videoconference. That window has closed. Wills in England & Wales must once again be signed in physical presence, on paper. Velati does not produce electronic-only wills.
Who can be a witness?
Any two adults (over 18) of sound mind, who are not beneficiaries under the will and not the spouse or civil partner of any beneficiary. A gift to a witness is void (s.15 Wills Act 1837), but the rest of the will stands. We screen this for you and won't let the will go to print if there's an overlap.
What if my situation is complicated?
Velati is designed for many of the situations that legal templates skip — cohabitation, blended families, single parents, mirror wills. For genuinely high-complexity cases — significant offshore assets, business succession, suspected undue influence, capacity questions, large or contested estates — we route you to a regulated solicitor partner instead of producing a template.
How long does it actually take?
About twenty minutes for the questionnaire and review. Another half an hour to print, find two witnesses and sign. Most people do the whole thing in an evening.

That's the whole thing.

About twenty minutes online. Another half an hour with two witnesses.

Start your will — £95 See pricing