Usually described as a person’s Last Will and Testament, the written expression of a how a person (the testator) would like their property to be distributed or disposed of after their death. In the absence of a will, a person’s estate is administered under the rules on intestacy.

A will needs to be admitted to probate, ie proved to be genuine and effective, under a court-supervised process. Only once probate is granted, can the executors (the persons charged with carrying out the testator’s wishes) begin the process of distributing the property to the beneficiaries (the persons to whom the property has been left in the will). The court keeps a register of all wills for which probate has been granted, and makes them available for public inspection, under section 124 of the Senior Courts Act 1981.

Ideally, a will should be signed and witnessed, as required by section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, but there are cases in which an unsigned document or even a text message has been accepted as an effective will.

A “nuncupative” will is an oral expression of testamentary intentions which may still be recognised as valid under the privilege accorded to “any soldier being in actual military service or any mariner or seaman being at sea” within section 11 of the Wills Act 1837. Such a testator does not need to be literally fighting in battle or afloat on the ocean wave in order to qualify, so long as they are engaged in relevant military or naval service at the time: see Ayeling v Summers [2009] EWHC 3168 (Ch) and the cases there cited.