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As of 13 August 2026, AI cannot update your will.
This still needs a person who signs their name to it.
Can you do it?
15 minutesto a draft.
n/ait cannot be self-verified.
Cost, all in£0
Skill neededchat-fluent
Who has to check ita professional
What the alternative costsA solicitor is the appropriate alternative for a legally consequential will update; no price is provided in the supplied data.
If this goes wrong, your intended gifts may fail or your estate may be distributed differently from what you meant.
What to actually do
Hand it to a person
The route this page recommends
Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.
Use a tool built for this
Second choiceDo it yourself
The distant thirdA chat interface gets you a draft, but you cannot verify it yourself. That is the catch.
How to actually do it
- Open GOV.UK guidance on making and changing a will, and note the guidance for your UK jurisdiction.
- Find your current will, any codicils, details of your executors and a list of the people and organisations you want to benefit.
- Write down the exact changes you want, including what should happen if a beneficiary or executor dies before you.
- Paste those facts and the copyable prompt into a chatbot, stating your jurisdiction and asking it to flag missing information rather than guess.
- Compare the chatbot's questions and draft against your current will and GOV.UK guidance, correcting every name, relationship, asset and proposed gift.
- Send the checked draft, your current will and the list of changes to a solicitor, and ask them to prepare or approve the legally effective document.
- Follow the solicitor's instructions for signing, witnessing, replacing the old will and storing the final version.
Prompt
I need help preparing to update my will in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland: [jurisdiction]. My intended changes are: [plain description of the changes]. My current will was made on: [date, if known]. Relevant facts are: [family relationships, beneficiaries, executors, property, business interests, trusts, overseas assets and anything else relevant]. Do not decide legal issues for me, invent facts or present a draft as valid. First list the questions a solicitor would need answered and identify any parts that could create unintended consequences. Then produce a clearly labelled working draft of the proposed changes, using placeholders where information is missing. Explain which parts must be checked against current GOV.UK or other official guidance and which parts need a solicitor. Include a practical checklist for revoking or replacing the old document, signing and witnessing the new one, storing it and telling the relevant people, but do not claim that the checklist makes the will legally valid. This is not professional advice.
Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.
What it gets wrong
- AI cannot tell you reliably whether a proposed change creates an unintended result elsewhere in the will.
- AI cannot assess difficult questions about capacity, undue influence, family disputes, trusts, business assets or overseas property.
- AI cannot make the document legally effective through drafting alone; the required signing, witnessing and revocation process still has to be completed.
- AI cannot carry responsibility for the distribution of your estate if the document is wrong or invalid.
What makes this a NO: legal accountability, verification cost and stakes of error.
How we scored this
Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.
| Axis | Score (0–2) |
|---|---|
| Output | 1 |
| Inputs | 1 |
| Verification | 0 |
| Liability | 0 |
| Effort delta | 1 |
| Total | 3 / 10 |
The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.
FAQ
- Can ChatGPT change my will?
- It can prepare a working draft of proposed changes, but it cannot update the legally effective document by itself. A solicitor should handle a serious or complicated change, and this is not professional advice.
- Can AI write a codicil for my will?
- AI can draft wording for a possible codicil, but wording alone does not make it valid. A solicitor should check whether a codicil is suitable, whether it conflicts with the existing will and how it must be signed and witnessed.
- Is it safe to use AI to change my will?
- Use it for organising your wishes and preparing questions, not as the final legal check. Errors can change who inherits, and you may not be able to spot them without a solicitor.
- Do I need a solicitor to update my will?
- You should use a solicitor when the change involves property, trusts, business interests, overseas assets, a dependent, a dispute or uncertainty about capacity or influence. Even a simple change needs the correct formal process, so not professional advice should not be treated as a substitute for legal help.
Nearby answers
- Can AI help me act as an executor of a will?NO
- Can AI help me challenge a will in the UK?NO
- Can AI check how much probate will cost in the UK?YES
- Can AI help me deal with an inheritance dispute?NO
- Can AI help me find a probate solicitor in the UK?YES
- Can AI help me notify banks and organisations about a death?PARTLY
Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.
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