About Wise Wills
Wise Wills began with a simple idea: making it easier for ordinary people to make a Will, understand why it matters, and put their wishes into a clear legal document without the traditional barriers of time, cost and repeated visits to an office.
The historic Wise Wills site records the service as having been writing Wills online since 1999, with the wisewills.co.uk domain registered in March 2000 by The Will Bureau UK. From the outset, Wise Wills was designed to be more than a Will-selling website. It was built around information, practical guidance and answers to the questions people naturally have when thinking about their affairs.
A knowledge base as well as a service
The original website developed a substantial library of information covering subjects such as intestacy, executors, guardians, Mirror Wills, inheritance tax, probate, legal terminology, changing a Will, unmarried partners, single people, and the position of UK nationals living abroad or owning assets in the UK.
That information-led approach remains part of Wise Wills today. Many of the questions people were asking years ago are still the questions people ask now. The law and individual circumstances can change, but the need for clear, understandable information has not.
Making Will-writing easier
The original Wise Wills message explained the thinking behind the service: people often know they should make a Will but keep putting it off. Wise Wills was created to make the process more convenient, accessible and affordable, allowing customers to provide their instructions online and receive a professionally prepared Will for checking before signing and witnessing.
That basic philosophy remains at the heart of the modern Wise Wills approach: make the process clear, make the information useful, and help people turn their wishes into a Will.
For people at home or abroad
The historic service was also deliberately designed for UK nationals living outside the UK and for people who retained property or other assets in the UK while living abroad. The old site emphasised that customers could use the online service wherever they were in the world, while recognising that cross-border estates can require advice from the country in which other property or assets are situated.
Wise Wills today
The 2026 Wise Wills website is a clean, modern continuation of that original purpose. The appearance and customer journey have been redesigned, but the underlying idea remains familiar: help people make their wishes clear, understand the questions around Wills, and take sensible steps to put their affairs in order.
A Will records your will — your wishes and intentions — and a wise Will makes those wishes clear in a legal document.
Professional foundations
This is a fresh Wise Wills website and service design. Historic Wise Wills material is used as a source of history and subject matter, not as a template to be reproduced.
Wise Wills was developed by the owner under the Wise Wills and The Will Bureau (TWB) identities during the early years of online Will-writing.
Historical records show that the owner was a member of the Society of Will Writers and that Wise Wills TWB and wisewills.co.uk were associated with that membership. In 2005, the owner completed the College of Will Writing course of study and passed its prescribed Paper One examination, receiving a Paper One Certificate.
We describe the qualification exactly as recorded in the historical documents.
The historical membership continued as part of the development of Wise Wills. By 2016, the membership arrangement had changed and the owner was no longer required to pay the Society subscription.
Our history
Wise Wills began in 2000, when the internet was very different from the one we know today.
Google was only about two years old. Online shopping and internet banking were beginning to become part of everyday life, but arranging an important personal service entirely online was unfamiliar to many people. PayPal did not launch its UK service until 2003.
Wise Wills was established during this early period as an online Will-writing service, combining the convenience of the internet with a more personal approach to preparing a Will. Customers could find information online and give their instructions, while much of the practical side of the service was still carried out in more traditional ways, including payment by cheque.
The site developed into more than simply a place to order a Will. It included practical information on subjects such as intestacy, executors, beneficiaries, Mirror Wills and witnessing a Will.
In 2002, The Guardian identified Wise Wills as an online Will-writing service and referred to the original website and its prices at the time. Over the years, individual Wise Wills information pages were also linked to in online discussions, including on MoneySavingExpert.
The original service later ceased operating because of ill health, but the Wise Wills name and website were retained.
Today, Wise Wills is being rebuilt for a very different internet, while retaining the original aim of making the process of preparing a Will more straightforward and personal.