Making and signing a will abroad
Making, signing and keeping a UK will valid while living abroad: witnessing rules, marriage and divorce, mirror wills, dual wills and what happens without a will.
Guides on this subject
Five ways a good will goes wrong after you move abroad
Every mistake on this list can happen to a will that was perfectly drafted on the day it was signed. The problem is the document meeting an expat life it wasn't built for. Get your will out and read it against these five checks. Four of the five turn up in reported cases and statutes, and every one has a routine fix.
Second marriages, stepchildren and the will that does not do what you think
A man leaves everything to his second wife, on the shared understanding that it will pass to his children from his first marriage when she dies. Once she owns it outright, nothing binds her: she can remarry, rewrite her will, spend it, or leave it to her own children. It is the most common way a simple will quietly fails a blended family.
Leaving someone out of your will, and making it stick
England and Wales lets you leave your estate to whoever you choose. The limit is the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which lets a spouse, a child including an adult child, a cohabitant or anyone you maintained ask a court for provision. How exclusion is actually done, where the reasons should be recorded, and the domicile point that changes it for expats.
Who looks after your children if you both die abroad
If both parents die abroad, the legal question of who raises the children can take weeks to settle. The practical one takes hours, because somebody has to collect them from school that afternoon. English law lets a parent appoint a guardian in a will in a few lines. Living abroad adds a gap at the start that almost nobody plans for.
Marriage, divorce and your will: what changes automatically and what does not
Getting married revokes the will you already made: section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 cancels it the moment you marry, unless the will was made in expectation of that particular marriage and says so. Divorce does the opposite, leaving the will standing but treating your former spouse as having died first. Separation, on its own, changes nothing at all.
Mirror wills for couples living abroad, explained
Mirror wills let a couple leave everything to each other, then to the children. What they don't do, why they're not binding on the survivor, and the traps for expat couples.
UK will, local will, or both? How dual wills work for expats
One worldwide will or separate wills for each country? How the situs rule, forced heirship and the revocation trap decide what British expats actually need.
Making a will as a British expat in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has no inheritance tax and broad freedom to choose your heirs, but your MPF, joint assets and intestacy rules all behave differently from what you'd expect. What British expats need to know.
Wills for British expats in Thailand: foreign ownership and why you need a Thai will too
Foreigners can't own land in Thailand, estates run through the Thai courts, and your spouse may not inherit everything. Here's what British expats in Thailand need from a will, and why a Thai will usually sits alongside a UK one.
Do I need a UK will if I live abroad?
Living abroad doesn't switch off the UK rules. If you still own a UK home, bank account or investments, here's why a UK will usually still matters, and the revocation trap that catches people who sign a local will later.
What happens to your estate if you die without a will while living abroad
Around half of UK adults have no will, and expats who put it off tend to assume the familiar English safety net will catch their family anyway. It won't, because it doesn't travel. Die intestate abroad and your estate lands in whichever country's default rules reach it first: in Spain your spouse may get a life interest in a third while your children take the rest, in much of Europe the local code decides everything, and an unmarried partner can be left with nothing and no court to ask. Here's what "no will" actually means once you live outside the UK.
How to sign and witness a UK will overseas
A perfectly drafted will can fail in the last ninety seconds, at the kitchen table, over the signatures. For expats the risk is higher, because three comforting beliefs are all wrong: the embassy will almost never witness it, video witnessing is no longer law, and you cannot sign counterpart copies across borders. The actual rules are older and simpler: one document, two adult witnesses, everyone in the same room until all three signatures are on the page. Here's exactly how to run the ceremony, anywhere in the world.