What Happens If You Destroy a Will in the UK?

Is it illegal to destroy your own will?

No, deliberately destroying your own will is a legal way to revoke it, provided you have the intention to cancel it at the time.

This is one of the recognised methods of revocation under section 20 of the Wills Act 1837.

Tearing, burning, or otherwise physically destroying a will you made yourself is not a crime when you do it with clear intent. The difficulty comes later, since your executors then have no document to rely on, and your estate may fall under the intestacy rules unless you have already made a new will. If you want to revoke a will, making a new one with a proper revocation clause is usually clearer than relying on destruction alone.

Is it illegal to destroy someone else’s will?

Yes. Destroying, hiding, or tampering with another person’s will can amount to a criminal offence in serious cases, including fraud. This applies whether the will favours you or not.

Deliberately destroying a will that is not yours, for example to prevent an unfavourable gift taking effect, is treated seriously by the courts, since it can deprive beneficiaries of what the deceased intended. Depending on the circumstances, this can lead to criminal charges as well as civil claims from the people who lost out. Anyone who suspects a will has been deliberately destroyed or hidden by someone else should get legal advice quickly, since evidence tends to disappear over time.

What if a will is destroyed by accident?

Accidental destruction, such as fire, flood, or genuine loss, does not revoke a will, but it can be very difficult to prove what the will said. The law only treats destruction as revocation when it was done deliberately.

If a will is destroyed accidentally, the presumption of revocation can still apply in practice, since the court cannot always tell the difference between an accident and a deliberate act without evidence. Witnesses who saw and understood the contents, a solicitor’s file copy, or a registered copy with the National Will Register can all help show what the original said and that its loss was not intentional. Without any of this, the estate may end up distributed as though no will existed at all.

What counts as destroying a will?

Tearing, burning, shredding, or otherwise physically destroying the document counts, but writing on it or storing it badly generally does not. The method has to actually destroy the document, not just mark or damage it.

Crossing out a line, writing “cancelled” across a page, or accidentally creasing or staining a will does not reliably revoke it in the way physical destruction does. Partial destruction causes the most disputes. Tearing part of a will can show either a clear intent to revoke the whole thing or an incomplete, abandoned attempt, and the courts look at the specific facts of each case. If you are trying to revoke a will properly, a written declaration or a new will removes this ambiguity entirely.

How do you prove a will was destroyed deliberately or by accident?

Evidence such as witness statements, a solicitor’s file copy, or a registered copy with the National Will Register helps establish what happened. Without this, the court is left to infer intent from limited facts.

If you are dealing with a missing or damaged will, gather anything that shows what it said and how it was lost. Correspondence with a solicitor, a copy kept elsewhere, or people who saw the will and can describe its contents all help. Gov.uk’s guidance on making a valid will sets out the formalities a court checks when deciding whether a document was validly made in the first place.

How serious are the penalties for destroying someone else’s will?

There is no single fixed penalty. The consequences depend on intent, and can range from civil liability to a criminal conviction. The law looks at what was destroyed and why, not just the act itself.

Where destruction is proven to be deliberate and intended to prevent a valid will taking effect, this can amount to fraud. In serious cases it can lead to prosecution and a criminal conviction with a fine or imprisonment. Even where a criminal case is not brought, beneficiaries who lost out can bring a civil claim for the value of what they should have inherited. This applies whether the will was handwritten or professionally drafted by a solicitor, since the seriousness turns on the act of destroying someone else’s document, not on how the will itself was made.

Does partial destruction count as revoking a will?

Not reliably. The destruction generally needs to be total, since tearing only part of a will risks revoking nothing at all. Courts look at exactly how much was destroyed and what that suggests about intent.

If a will is torn through in places but the main text and signatures are still legible, a court may find there was no clear, completed intention to revoke. The will could still be treated as valid despite the damage. This uncertainty is why destruction is often the riskiest way to revoke a will. A written declaration or a new will’s revocation clause leaves no doubt about what was intended.

Frequently asked questions

What are the legal consequences of destroying someone else’s will?

Deliberately destroying, hiding, or altering someone else’s will can lead to criminal charges, including fraud, and civil claims from beneficiaries who lost out. Courts treat this seriously, since it can permanently prevent the deceased’s actual wishes from being carried out.

Does destroying a will affect who inherits?

If your own will is validly destroyed with intent to revoke it, your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules unless you make a new will. If someone else’s will is wrongfully destroyed, the courts may still try to establish and honour its contents from other evidence.

Can you accidentally revoke a will?

Not in the legal sense. Revocation by destruction requires deliberate intent, so a genuine accident does not revoke a will at all. In practice, though, a missing or damaged will can be presumed destroyed on purpose unless there is evidence showing otherwise.

Is destroying an old will after making a new one necessary?

No, and it is often safer not to. A properly worded new will already revokes the old one through its revocation clause. Keeping the old will can sometimes help resolve disputes about your intentions, so destroying it is not required to make the new will effective.