Do I need an interpreter to make a will, and who pays for it?

If you are Deaf or use British Sign Language, this is one of the first practical questions, and it is often the one that stops people getting a will made at all.

Here is the straight answer, including the part about who should be paying.

The short answer

You do not legally have to use an interpreter to make a valid will. But if BSL is your first language, you should have one, and you should not be the one paying for it.

The point of the appointment is not to produce a document. It is to make sure the document says what you actually want. That requires a proper two-way conversation about your family, your property and your wishes, conducted in the language you think in. Written notes passed back and forth do not achieve that, and lipreading in a long technical meeting is exhausting and unreliable even for confident lipreaders.

Why it matters legally, not just practically

For a will to stand up, you must have what the law calls knowledge and approval: you must understand what the will says and approve its contents.

If a will is later challenged, one of the questions asked is whether the person making it genuinely understood it. A will made through proper professional interpretation, with that fact recorded, is considerably more robust than one made through a well-meaning relative scribbling notes. Our guide on whether a will can be made in BSL covers how that is documented.

So an interpreter is not just a courtesy. It is part of what makes the will safe.

Who is allowed to interpret

Anyone can interpret in the loose sense. For something this important you want a qualified, registered professional interpreter, which in practice means someone registered with the NRCPD, the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People.

Registration means assessed qualifications, a professional code of conduct and ongoing development. It also means the interpreter is bound by confidentiality, which matters when you are discussing your family and your money.

Why a family member is the wrong choice

This is the part people push back on, so here is the reasoning.

Your daughter may be a fluent signer who has interpreted for you your whole life. She is still the wrong person for this meeting, for three reasons.

She is probably a beneficiary, which creates an obvious conflict. If the will is ever challenged, the fact that the interpreting was done by someone who stood to inherit is exactly the thread someone will pull.

She may soften or edit. Not dishonestly, but because family members naturally smooth over awkward things, and this meeting is full of awkward things: what happens if you remarry, whether one child gets more than another, what happens if a beneficiary dies first.

And it puts her in an impossible position. She has to relay questions about her own inheritance, in front of you, neutrally.

Our guide for hearing children of Deaf parents goes into this in more detail. The short version: come to the meeting as a son or daughter, not as the interpreter.

Separately, a family member should not be a witness either if they benefit under the will, because the gift to them fails. That is covered in our guide on whether a BSL interpreter can witness a will.

Who should pay

This is where a lot of people have been let down, so it is worth being clear.

Providing communication support for a disabled client is a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. The Act is explicit that the cost of a reasonable adjustment must not be passed on to the disabled person. A firm should not be quoting you the standard fee plus an interpreter surcharge, and it should not be charging you for a longer appointment on the basis that interpreted meetings take more time.

If a provider tells you an interpreter is available but you will need to arrange or fund it yourself, that is worth questioning.

What we do

We have an in-house BSL interpreter, Catherine Moxon, who is NRCPD-registered with over thirty years' experience. She joins the appointment for the whole meeting, not just the difficult bits.

There is no extra charge for the interpreter and no extra charge for the extra time. Our fees are the same as for any other client: a single will from £195 and mirror wills from £350, both including VAT, as listed on our pricing page. Appointments can be extended if they need to be, without that costing you more.

You can read about the service on our Deaf and BSL page and meet Catherine on our team page.

What to ask any other firm

If you are speaking to someone else, and you should feel free to, these are the questions worth asking:

1. Will you provide a qualified BSL interpreter, and are they NRCPD-registered?
2. Is there any extra charge for the interpreter, or for a longer appointment?
3. Will the interpreter be there for the whole meeting?
4. Is the same interpreter available for follow-up appointments and for signing?
5. Can you offer video appointments as well as in person?

A firm that answers those clearly is one worth using, whether that is us or not.

If you are hard of hearing rather than a BSL user

Not everyone who is Deaf or hard of hearing uses BSL, and an interpreter may not be what you need.

It might instead be a quiet room, a clear view of the speaker's face, written confirmation of everything discussed, a hearing loop, or simply a slower meeting with more pauses. Those are reasonable adjustments too, and you are entitled to ask for them.

Tell us what works for you before the appointment rather than during it, and we will set it up that way. You can also reach us through Relay UK on 18001 03330 904 951, or get in touch however suits you best.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and figures and rules can change. For guidance on your own situation, please get in touch.