6 Things You Should Never Put in Your Will (29 May 2026)

Making a will is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your family and ensure your estate is distributed according to your wishes after you die. Yet even a carefully considered will can be undermined by common mistakes that leave instructions unenforceable, trigger a dispute between beneficiaries, or cause unintended consequences for the people you most want to provide for. Understanding what you should never put in your will and why is as important as knowing what to include.

In England and Wales, a will must meet specific legal requirements to be legally valid. If it does not, your estate may be distributed under the intestacy rules, which may bear no relation to what you actually wanted. Here are six things you should never put in your will.

1. Funeral Wishes

One of the most common mistakes people make when writing a will is using it as the place to record their funeral wishes. The practical problem is straightforward: a will may not be read until after the funeral has already taken place. Probate, the legal process of administering a deceased person’s estate, is often not initiated until days or even weeks after death, by which point the funeral arrangements will have been made and carried out.

Funeral wishes should instead be recorded in a separate letter of wishes or a dedicated funeral plan and shared with your executor and trusted family members in advance. Your executor needs to know your preferences while they can still act on them. For that reason, funeral wishes are usually better kept in a separate document that your executors and family can access immediately.

2. Conditional Gifts Based on Lifestyle, Beliefs, or Personal Choices

Conditional gifts, where a beneficiary only inherits if they meet a specified condition, are legally permitted in England and Wales in some circumstances, but many of the conditions people attempt to include in a will are unenforceable, can lead to costly disputes, or may be struck out by the courts altogether.

Conditions that are impossible to fulfil, contrary to public policy, or unlawful will not be given effect. Courts can overturn or modify conditional gifts where the condition is deemed unreasonable or contrary to public policy — for example, a clause that requires a beneficiary to marry or divorce a particular person, or another condition the court considers discriminatory, unreasonable, or contrary to public policy. Even where a condition is technically legal, it can create lasting family conflict and lead to contested wills that eat into the estate through legal costs. If you have genuine concerns about how a beneficiary might use an inheritance, setting up a trust is a far more effective and legally robust solution.

3. Gifts of Money Directly to Vulnerable Beneficiaries

Leaving a lump sum of money directly to someone who is vulnerable or disabled, or who is unable to manage their finances properly, is one of the most significant will-writing mistakes you can make. The consequences can be severe and long-lasting. A direct inheritance may affect their entitlement to means-tested benefits, such as Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, potentially leaving them financially worse off despite your intention to help them.

For someone who is vulnerable or disabled and relies on means-tested benefits, receiving a large lump sum can disqualify them from support until the inheritance has been spent down. The right approach is to set up a discretionary trust in your will, with a trusted person acting as trustee. The trustee can then manage and distribute funds for the benefit of the vulnerable beneficiary, which may help preserve entitlement to means-tested benefits, depending on the circumstances and how distributions are made. Taking professional advice on the right trust structure is essential. A solicitor experienced in wills and probate can ensure the trust is drafted correctly and achieves the protection you intend.

4. Assets That Pass Outside Your Will

A common source of confusion in succession planning is the assumption that everything you own can be dealt with in your will. In fact, several significant asset types pass outside your will entirely and cannot be directed by it, regardless of what you write.

Joint bank accounts and jointly owned property held as joint tenants will automatically pass to the surviving owner on your death, by the right of survivorship. Your will has no effect on this. Similarly, pension death benefits are typically paid at the discretion of the pension trustees and do not form part of your estate. The beneficiary nomination you lodge with your pension provider is what matters, not your will. Life insurance policies written in trust also pass outside your estate. If you include specific instructions about these assets in your will, those instructions will have no legal effect, and your executors may be left with a confusing and potentially misleading document.

The solution is to ensure your nomination forms for pensions and life insurance are up to date, and to take legal advice on whether jointly held property should be converted from a joint tenancy to a tenancy in common if you want each owner’s share to pass under their will rather than automatically to the survivor.

5. Imprecise or Incomplete Charitable Gifts

Leaving a gift to a charity in your will is a generous and tax-efficient act of succession planning. Charitable legacies are exempt from inheritance tax, and gifts to charity can also reduce the rate of inheritance tax payable on the rest of your estate in some circumstances. However, imprecise charitable gifts are one of the most common will-writing errors and can cause significant problems during estate administration.

If you want to leave a gift to a charity, you should include the charity’s full legal name, registered charity number, and registered address. Charities merge, change their names, and occasionally cease to exist. A gift simply described as “to the cancer charity I support” or “to my local hospice” may be impossible to identify with certainty, particularly if your executor did not know you well or if time passes between making the will and your death. Where a charitable gift cannot be properly identified, it may fail entirely or result in a dispute between organisations with similar names. An animal charity, for example, should be identified with the same precision as any other beneficiary.

6. Anything You Intend to Keep Private

Many people are surprised to learn that a will becomes a public document once probate is granted. Anyone can apply to obtain a copy of a probated will from the Probate Registry in England and Wales. This means that any information you include in your will, whether about the size of your estate, the identities of your beneficiaries, the reasons you have chosen to exclude someone, or the terms on which you have made gifts, becomes publicly accessible. If you want to explain your wishes in more detail, leave a personal message to a beneficiary, or set out your reasons for excluding someone from your will without those reasons being made public, a letter of wishes is the appropriate document. A letter of wishes is not legally binding, but it can provide your executor with valuable guidance and context. It sits alongside your will but remains private. Your solicitor can advise on how to draft a letter of wishes that reflects your wishes and supports your executor without forming part of the public probate record.

How Our Wills and Probate Solicitors Can Help

Avoiding common will-writing mistakes requires more than good intentions. It requires professional advice from solicitors who understand the legal and practical implications of every clause. DIY will-writing services and online templates cannot provide the tailored guidance needed to address vulnerable beneficiaries, complex asset structures, tax planning, or succession planning for a business.

At Duncan Lewis, our wills and probate solicitors can help you draft a legally valid will that genuinely reflects your wishes, protects your family, and minimises the risk of dispute. We also advise on trusts, lasting powers of attorney, estate administration, and the full range of succession planning matters. Whether you are making a will for the first time, reviewing an existing will following a change in your circumstances such as marriage, divorce, or remarriage, or dealing with a contested will, our specialist team is here to help.

Ready to make or review your will? Contact Duncan Lewis today on 033 3772 0409 for expert wills and probate advice from solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.