Can a witness of a will receive a gift?

In legal terms, that gift is said to “lapse”. This rule also applies if a gift has been left to the spouse or civil partner of a witness.

The witnessing itself, however, remains valid. The gift will not affect the validity of the rest of the will, just the gift itself.

Distributing the estate

If you are dealing with the probate process and you notice that a gift has “lapsed”, you should distribute the estate as if the gift was not included in the will.