Can You Make a Will on WhatsApp?

29 May 2025 | Wills, Trust & Probate | Author: Jayne Parsons

Making a Will is one of the most important things anyone can do. In England and Wales, the law surrounding making a valid Will is contained in the Wills Act 1837. WhatsApp wasn’t even a digital dream in its designer's eye when the Wills Act came into force! This blog will seek to answer whether you can make your Will on WhatsApp. To do this, we must discuss the key legal requirements for making a Will.

What’s required for a valid Will?

There are key elements required to ensure a Will is valid:

• The testator must be at least 18 years of age. The testator is the person making the Will.
• The testator must have the capacity to make the Will. That means the testator must be of sound mind.
• The Will must be in writing, and the testator must sign it (or, in certain circumstances, be signed by another person in the testator’s presence). 
• The testator must sign the Will in the presence of two witnesses or acknowledge their signature in the presence of two witnesses.
• Two witnesses must sign the Will in the presence of the testator.

These key ingredients are impossible to replicate in a digital world, not least WhatsApp. However, when the UK was subject to lockdown and movement restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government amended the Wills Act, allowing witnessing remotely over a video link. Other jurisdictions took similar measures, some of which have become permanent.

The Law Commission and Electronic Wills

The Law Commission began a consultation into electronic Wills in 2017. The consultation was paused between 2019 and 2022 and recommenced in October 2023. The Commission produced a supplementary consultation paper, and the consultation period closed on 8 December 2023. 

A key element of the consultation paper's discussion was how a Will could be executed electronically and how that execution could comply with the Wills Act. The paper also considers whether bespoke arrangements are needed to accommodate electronic wills and, potentially, a new Wills Act to satisfy those needs.

There has been no further movement since the consultation closed.

Are we likely to see wills by WhatsApp in the future?

None of us knows what the future will hold, but there is no indication that Wills by WhatsApp will be valid. WhatsApp is a messaging app that does not lend itself to collaboration in a single text. There is also an issue where the testator might set the text streams to be automatically deleted. You need a Will to endure, and this cannot happen if the text containing the Will is deleted automatically.

If you would like to seek legal advice regarding drawing up a Will and get peace of mind, get in touch with our team of experts today.