# Wills Act 1837 URL: https://consilena.com/coverage/laws/stat_uk_ukpga_will4and1vict_7_26 - Jurisdiction: United Kingdom - Type: Act - Identifier: ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26 - Current as of: 6 April 2022 - Provisions: 34 - Official text: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26 - Licence: [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) - Attribution: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. > The library is a research copy. Check the official source before relying on a provision: the text published there, not the copy in Consilena, is the law. ## Provisions - **s. 1 Meaning of certain words in this Act: “Will”: “Real estate”: “Personal estate”: Number: Gender**: The words and expressions herein-after mentioned, which in their ordinary signification have a more confined or a different meaning, shall in this Act, except… - **s. 3 All property may be disposed of by will; Contingent Interests; Rights of Entry; and property acquired after the execution of the will**: It shall be lawful for every person to devise, bequeath, or dispose of, by his will executed in manner herein-after required, all real estate and all personal… - **s. 7 No will of a person under age valid**: No will made by any person under the age of eighteen years shall be valid. - **s. 9 Signing and attestation of wills**: (1) No will shall be valid unless— (a) it is in writing, and signed by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction; and (b) it… - **s. 10 Appointments by will to be executed like other wills, and to be valid, although other required solemnities are not observed**: No appointment made by will, in exercise of any power, shall be valid, unless the same be executed in manner herein-before required; and every will executed in… - **s. 11 Soldiers and mariners wills excepted**: Provided always, that any soldier being in actual military service, or any mariner or seaman being at sea, may dispose of his personal estate as he might have… - **s. 13 Publication of will not be requisite**: Every will executed in manner herein-before required shall be valid without any other publication thereof. - **s. 14 Will not to be void on account of incompetency of attesting witness**: If any person who shall attest the execution of a will shall at the time of the execution thereof or at any time afterwards be incompetent to be admitted a… - **s. 15 Gifts to an attesting witness to be void**: If any person shall attest the execution of any will to whom or to whose wife or husband any beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift, or appointment… - **s. 16 Creditor attesting to be admitted a witness**: In case by any will any real or personal estate shall be charged with any debt or debts, and any creditor, or the wife or husbandor civil partner of any… - **s. 17 Executor shall be admitted a witness**: No person shall, on account of his being an executor of a will, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, or a witness to… - **s. 18 Wills to be revoked by marriage, except in certain cases**: (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5) below, a will shall be revoked by the testator’s marriage. (2) A disposition in a will in exercise of a power of… - **s. 18A Effect of dissolution or annulment of marriage on wills**: (1) Where, after a testator has made a will, ... a court of civil jurisdiction in England and Wales dissolves or annuls his marriage or his marriage is… - **s. 18B Will to be revoked by civil partnership**: (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (6) (7), a will is revoked by the formation of a civil partnership between the testator and another person. (2) A disposition… - **s. 18C Effect of dissolution or annulment of civil partnership on wills**: (1) This section applies if, after a testator has made a will— (a) a court of civil jurisdiction in England and Wales dissolves his civil partnership or makes… - **s. 18D Effect on subsisting will of conversion of civil partnership into marriage**: (1) The conversion of a civil partnership into a marriage does not— (a) revoke any will made by a party to the civil partnership before the conversion; or (b)… - **s. 18E Effect on subsisting will of conversion of marriage into civil partnership**: (1) The conversion of a marriage into a civil partnership does not— (a) revoke any will made by a party to the marriage before the conversion; or (b) affect… - **s. 19 No will to be revoked by presumption**: No will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances. - **s. 20 No will to be revoked but by another will or codicil, or by a writing executed like a will, or by destruction**: No will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed in manner herein-before required… - **s. 21 No alteration in a will shall have any effect unless executed as a will**: No obliteration, interlineation, or other alteration made in any will after the execution thereof shall be valid or have any effect, except so far as the words… - **s. 22 No will revoked to be revived otherwise than by Re-execution or a Codicil to revive it**: No will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof or by a codicil… - **s. 23 A devise not to be rendered inoperative by any subsequent conveyance or act**: No conveyance or other Act made or done subsequently to the execution of a will of or relating to any real or personal estate therein comprised, except an act… - **s. 24 A will shall be construed to speak from the death of the testator**: Every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed… - **s. 25 Residuary devise shall include estates comprised in lapsed and void devises**: Unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, such real estate or interest therein as shall be comprised or intended to be comprised in any devise in… - **s. 26 A general devise of the testator’s lands shall include copyhold and leasehold as well as freehold lands**: A devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise… - **s. 27 A general gift shall include estates over which the testator has a general power of appointment**: A general devise of the real estate of the testator, or of the real estate of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his… - **s. 28 A devise without any words of limitation shall be construed to pass as free**: Where any real estate shall be devised to any person without any words of limitation, such devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple, or other the whole… - **s. 29 The words “die without issue,” or “die without leaving issue,” shall be construed to mean die without issue living at the death**: In any devise or bequest of real or personal estate the words “die without issue,” or “die without leaving issue,” or “have no issue,” or any other words which… - **s. 30 No devise to trustees or executors, except for a term or a presentation to a church, shall pass a chattel interest**: Where any real estate (other than or not being a presentation to a church) shall be devised to any trustee or executor, such devise shall be construed to pass… - **s. 31 Trustees under an unlimited devise, where the trust may endure beyond the life of a person beneficially entitled for life, shall take the fee**: Where any real estate shall be devised to a trustee, without any express limitation of the estate to be taken by such trustee, and the beneficial interest in… - **s. 33 Gifts to children or other issue who leave issue living at the testator’s death shall not lapse**: (1) Where— (a) a will contains a devise or bequest to a child or remoter descendant of the testator; and (b) the intended beneficiary dies before the testator… - **s. 33A Disclaimer or forfeiture of gift**: (1) This section applies where a will contains a devise or bequest to a person who— (a) disclaims it, or (b) has been precluded by the forfeiture rule from… - **s. 34 Act not to extend to wills made before 1838, nor to estates pur autre vie of persons who die before 1838**: This Act shall not extend to any will made before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and every will re-executed or… - **s. 35 Act not to extend to Scotland**: This Act shall not extend to Scotland. --- Consilena is a software provider, not a law firm. AI output is not legal advice: consult a licensed lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction. Page: https://consilena.com/coverage/laws/stat_uk_ukpga_will4and1vict_7_26. Index of every page: https://consilena.com/llms.txt.