{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837.json",
  "id": "ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26",
  "title": "Wills Act 1837",
  "long_title": "An Act for the amendment of the laws with respect to Wills.",
  "citation": "Will4and1Vict/7 c. 26",
  "type": "ukpga",
  "year": "Will4and1Vict/7",
  "number": "26",
  "version": "current",
  "date": "1837-07-03",
  "revised": true,
  "valid_from": "2022-04-06",
  "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
  "unapplied_effects": 1,
  "provisions": [
    {
      "path": "introduction",
      "kind": "introduction",
      "number": null,
      "heading": "Introductory text",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/introduction",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/1",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "1",
      "heading": "Meaning of certain words in this Act: “Will”: “Real estate”: “Personal estate”: Number: Gender.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-1",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/2",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "2",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-2",
      "extent": null,
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/3",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "3",
      "heading": "All property may be disposed of by will; Contingent Interests; Rights of Entry; and property acquired after the execution of the will.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-3",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/46",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "4—6",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-46",
      "extent": null,
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/7",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "7",
      "heading": "No will of a person under age valid.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-7",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/8",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "8",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-8",
      "extent": null,
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/9",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "9",
      "heading": "Signing and attestation of wills",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-9",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/10",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "10",
      "heading": "Appointments by will to be executed like other wills, and to be valid, although other required solemnities are not observed.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-10",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/11",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "11",
      "heading": "Soldiers and mariners wills excepted.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-11",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/12",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "12",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-12",
      "extent": null,
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/13",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "13",
      "heading": "Publication of will not be requisite.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-13",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/14",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "14",
      "heading": "Will not to be void on account of incompetency of attesting witness.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-14",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/15",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "15",
      "heading": "Gifts to an attesting witness to be void.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-15",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/16",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "16",
      "heading": "Creditor attesting to be admitted a witness.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-16",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/17",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "17",
      "heading": "Executor shall be admitted a witness.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-17",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18",
      "heading": "Wills to be revoked by marriage, except in certain cases.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18A",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18A",
      "heading": "Effect of dissolution or annulment of marriage on wills.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18A",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18B",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18B",
      "heading": "Will to be revoked by civil partnership",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18B",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18C",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18C",
      "heading": "Effect of dissolution or annulment of civil partnership on wills",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18C",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18D",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18D",
      "heading": "Effect on subsisting will of conversion of civil partnership into marriage",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18D",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/18E",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "18E",
      "heading": "Effect on subsisting will of conversion of marriage into civil partnership",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-18E",
      "extent": "E+W",
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/19",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "19",
      "heading": "No will to be revoked by presumption.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-19",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/20",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "20",
      "heading": "No will to be revoked but by another will or codicil, or by a writing executed like a will, or by destruction.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-20",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/21",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "21",
      "heading": "No alteration in a will shall have any effect unless executed as a will.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-21",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/22",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "22",
      "heading": "No will revoked to be revived otherwise than by Re-execution or a Codicil to revive it.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-22",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/23",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "23",
      "heading": "A devise not to be rendered inoperative by any subsequent conveyance or act.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-23",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/24",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "24",
      "heading": "A will shall be construed to speak from the death of the testator.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-24",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/25",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "25",
      "heading": "Residuary devise shall include estates comprised in lapsed and void devises.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-25",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/26",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "26",
      "heading": "A general devise of the testator’s lands shall include copyhold and leasehold as well as freehold lands.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-26",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/27",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "27",
      "heading": "A general gift shall include estates over which the testator has a general power of appointment.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-27",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/28",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "28",
      "heading": "A devise without any words of limitation shall be construed to pass as free.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-28",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/29",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "29",
      "heading": "The words “die without issue,” or “die without leaving issue,” shall be construed to mean die without issue living at the death.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-29",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/30",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "30",
      "heading": "No devise to trustees or executors, except for a term or a presentation to a church, shall pass a chattel interest.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-30",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/31",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "31",
      "heading": "Trustees under an unlimited devise, where the trust may endure beyond the life of a person beneficially entitled for life, shall take the fee.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-31",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/32",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "32",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-32",
      "extent": "E+W+N.I.",
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/33",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "33",
      "heading": "Gifts to children or other issue who leave issue living at the testator’s death shall not lapse.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-33",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/33A",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "33A",
      "heading": "Disclaimer or forfeiture of gift",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-33A",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/34",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "34",
      "heading": "Act not to extend to wills made before 1838, nor to estates pur autre vie of persons who die before 1838.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-34",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/35",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "35",
      "heading": "Act not to extend to Scotland.",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-35",
      "extent": null,
      "status": null,
      "parent": null
    },
    {
      "path": "section/36",
      "kind": "section",
      "number": "36",
      "heading": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
      "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wills-act-1837/section-36",
      "extent": null,
      "status": "repealed",
      "parent": null
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T13:45:15.749513+00:00",
    "licence": "OGL-UK-3.0",
    "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
    "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
  }
}