Wills Translation in the UK: Foreign Wills in English Probate and English Wills Used Abroad

Spain's Civil Code contains a sentence worth knowing: "Los extranjeros podrán otorgar testamento ológrafo en su propio idioma." Foreigners may write a handwritten will in their own language. Turn it round: a Spanish widow in Bristol writes hers by hand in Spanish, and English law will usually treat it as properly made, because the Wills Act 1963 recognises the law of the testator's nationality.

What her will cannot do is explain itself to an English probate registry. The registrar relies on the will translation to decide who may take the grant, so one wrong word, "beneficiary" for heredero or "executor" for someone with narrower powers, can change the grant.

Below: validity, what the registry needs, the executor question, what the translation must show, English wills abroad, and Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Is a will made abroad valid in England and Wales?

Usually, if it followed one of several laws. Section 1 of the Wills Act 1963 treats a will as properly executed "if its execution conformed to the internal law in force in the territory where it was executed, or in the territory where, at the time of its execution or of the testator's death, he was domiciled or had his habitual residence, or in a state of which, at either of those times, he was a national."

A will disposing of land is also valid if it followed the law where the land is (section 2(1)(b)), foreign rules on witnesses' qualifications count as formalities only (section 3), and the Act extends to the whole UK.

An English will needs writing, the testator's signature and "two or more witnesses present at the same time" (Wills Act 1837, section 9); video witnessing counted only for wills made between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024.

Formal validity is only the first question; who inherits depends on the law governing the succession.

What does the probate registry need for a will in another language?

The will, its translation and, where foreign law is involved, evidence of that law. Form PA1P's checklist asks for "The last original will and any codicils" and "A copy of any foreign wills or any wills dealing with assets held outside England and Wales (and if not in English, an English translation)." Question 3.3 asks whether the person had "any wills that were made outside of England and Wales".

GOV.UK adds that you "cannot use a photocopy" of the original and "it'll become a public record". Two rules help families with foreign wills:

1. Wills held by a foreign court or official. Under rule 54(2) of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, "a duly authenticated copy of the will may be admitted to proof" without a court order. In Germany, for example, a will must be delivered to the probate court (Nachlassgericht) after the death (BGB section 2259), which opens it and records the opening in a Niederschrift (FamFG section 348). Translate the court's certified copy and that record.
2. Evidence of foreign law. Rule 19 lets the registrar accept a witness statement or affidavit from someone "suitably qualified to give expert evidence of the law in question", or "a certificate by, or an act before, a notary practising in the country". If that evidence is not in English, it needs translating as well.

Practitioners with a complex estate can first send form PA18, a pre-lodgement enquiry, with "copy of foreign wills/codicils (and translations if necessary)". For the estate itself, see probate with foreign assets and heirs.

Does the translation decide who the executor is?

Often, yes. Where the person died domiciled outside England and Wales, rule 30(3) allows probate to the executor named without a court order only "if the will is in the English or Welsh language", or if it "describes the duties of a named person in terms sufficient to constitute him executor according to the tenor of the will". Otherwise the registrar may order a grant to the person entrusted with the estate by the court of the domicile, or to the person entitled under that country's law; PA1P asks for that court's "entrusting document" with "an official translation".

So the registrar reads the duties in the translation, and civil-law wills appoint roles English law lacks:

• Spain: the testator "podrá nombrar uno o más albaceas" (Civil Code article 892), and an albacea may be "universal o particular" (article 894).
• Germany: a will may appoint a Testamentsvollstrecker (BGB section 2197).

The same care applies to heirs. Spanish law calls a heredero someone who succeeds "a título universal" and a legatario someone who succeeds "a título particular" (article 660); German law separates the Erbe from the person given a Vermächtnis (BGB sections 1937 and 1939). "Beneficiary" for both erases the difference.

What must a will translation show?

Everything a registrar or foreign notary might rely on, in the original order:

• Form of the will: handwritten (testamento ológrafo, eigenhändiges Testament), notarial (testamento abierto, öffentliches Testament) or other, as the document shows.
• Testator's details, date and place. German law says a handwritten will should state the day, month, year and place (BGB section 2247), and rule 14(4) lets the registrar ask for evidence where the date is in doubt.
• Revocation and choice-of-law clauses, word for word.
• Every gift and condition: heirs, legacies, substitutes, forced shares (legítima, the portion reserved to herederos forzosos, article 806) and usufructs, such as a spouse's "usufructo del tercio destinado a mejora" (article 834).
• Executors, guardians and their powers.
• Alterations: crossings-out, insertions and initials, shown where they appear. Rule 14(1) requires evidence about unauthenticated alterations, and Spanish law has the testator confirm corrections "bajo su firma" (article 688).
• References to other documents, which rule 14(3) may require to be produced.
• Signatures, witnesses, notarial certificates, registry entries, court opening records and any apostille.
• Anything illegible marked [illegible], never guessed.

Can I use my English will abroad?

It depends on the country, so ask a lawyer there first:

• EU countries: all except Denmark and Ireland have applied the Succession Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 since 17 August 2015, even to British estates, although the UK is not bound. By default it applies the law of "habitual residence at the time of death" (article 21), but a person may choose "the law of the State whose nationality he possesses" (article 22), and the choice "shall be made expressly" in a will or be shown by its terms. A choice-of-law clause must be translated exactly.
• Spain: the FCDO suggests also making a Spanish will, says "You must say clearly in your will whether you want Spanish or UK inheritance law to apply", and warns that it must not "conflict with your UK will".
• Thailand: "Any will made in the UK may not be valid in Thailand," the FCDO says.

After a death, a foreign notary or court usually wants the English grant and proved will; PA1P asks how many official copies you need "for use outside of the United Kingdom". The FCDO can apostille documents "issued by a court and sealed with a wet ink court seal", and the translation then follows the destination's rule: for Spain, the Spanish Consulate General in London says "you should use a Sworn Translator-Interpreter duly registered in Spain."

If a UK translation must be notarised and apostilled, our apostille service can provide it: the certified translation is notarised and then apostilled, and the apostille is attached to our translation, not to the court's copy. See translation and apostille: when you need both. English concepts such as the executor, a trust or the residuary estate are best kept and explained in translator's notes, not swapped for local institutions.

Can I write my will in English if English is not my first language?

Yes, but make sure you understand it. Rule 13 requires the registrar, where a will "raises doubt as to the testator having had knowledge of the contents", to be satisfied that the testator knew them. If you read another language better, ask your solicitor for a translation of the draft before you sign, and keep it with the will file.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland. The Wills Act 1963 applies, and executors obtain confirmation from the sheriff court. HM Commissary Office, within Edinburgh Sheriff Court, deals with "foreign and no fixed or known domiciles". The courts' published guidance sets no translation rule, so ask the sheriff clerk first.

Northern Ireland. Where a foreign grant and will are resealed for assets there, nidirect is direct: "If the Foreign Grant and Will are not in English then a translation must be given and lodged with your application."

Why will translations cause problems

• Only the main will translated, leaving out codicils, the notary's or court's certificate, or the opening record.
• Legal roles upgraded: an albacea or Testamentsvollstrecker described with powers the will does not give.
• Heirs and legatees merged into "beneficiaries".
• Alterations tidied up, so the translation shows a clean text the original does not have.
• Names that differ from the death certificate and the probate application.

Checklist: before you order a will translation

Questions people ask