Lost Will

rjwc22

My aunt has passed away following a house fire and we are now struggling to come to terms with dealing with the estate.

So far we have not been able to locate a will within the property or any details as to a solicitor/bank who might retain a copy. Is there any central registry for wills in the UK and does anyone have any advice about how to track one down?

Have not started calling round the local solicitors yet but think this might be the next step if there is no other way, but will they be able to release details!

Thanks in advance.

luckyfool

A Will can be deposited for safekeeping with the Probate Service - http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1218.htm
There are also a few Will Registry schemes around which can be found using google.

Are you sure your Aunt has made a will? If she did not then her estate will be dealt with according to the laws of intestacy (which will vary depending on the jurisdiction, i.e. the rules are similar if not identical in England/Wales & Northern Ireland, but are pretty different in Scotland).

Thrugelmir

Unfortunately many people have the good intention to make a will but never get round to doing so.

rjwc22

Thanks Luckyfool. Think we might have to send off to them to see if there is anything on file.

Not 100% that a will has been made as the house was not even in my aunts name - was still in her mothers despite the fact she died about 20 years ago.

Hopefully we will be able to locate something to indicate who her solicitor was (if she had one).

luckyfool

Hopefully she had the house insured (to deal with the house fire).

rjwc22

Hopefully so, but we are not counting on getting much as pretty sure it was caused by a dropped cigarette.

I am not sure whether finding a will will be a good thing or not as knowing her it will probably gift her estate to the cats home.

getmore4less

rjwc22 wrote: »

Thanks Luckyfool. Think we might have to send off to them to see if there is anything on file.

Not 100% that a will has been made as the house was not even in my aunts name - was still in her mothers despite the fact she died about 20 years ago.

Hopefully we will be able to locate something to indicate who her solicitor was (if she had one).

This may be an issue a call tothe land refistry might be in order.

Was probate ever obtained for the mothers estate?

MotownFox

I imagine that in view of this...

the house was not even in my aunts name - was still in her mothers despite the fact she died about 20 years ago

Probate will be needed on the aunt's mothers estate BEFORE anyone can deal with the aunt's estate.

Was the Aunt's mother your Grandmother? And did she make a Will or did she die Intestate? If she is your Grandmother and she died without a Will then your mother or father, whichever is related, could be a beneficairy of the "Grandmothers" estate together with the aunt and any other siblings (or children of siblings if any sibling had already died).
The value for "Grandmothers" property for her Probate would be its worth on her death and for the aunt would be "her share" valued as at her date of death. The other share(s) could be possibly on for a CGT liability on the Property's eventual sale.