Help to find will

elona

DH's best friend has just died suddenly and we think he may have left a will but no one can find a copy in his house (or houses as he inherited his Dad's house).

We think he may have used the same solicitor that did his fathers will two years ago.

Is there any way of finding out who made out the fathers will - we do not fancy ringing all the solicitors in at least two different towns.

Any help or suggestions would be gratefully recieved as he cannot be given a funeral till things are settled!

Bossyboots

My condolences to your DH.

You probably will need to contact every solicitor in those towns. Is that as daunting as you think? If you did the two nearest towns to me, you would only be talking about around 15 firms. The alternative is to write to them all with the same letter saying you are trying to trace the will.

Does your DH have the right to access the will? If he is not the next of kin or executor then he has no cause to have it released to him or given any detail about what is in it.

The funeral and the will are not dependent upon each other. You actually do not have to follow the instructions left in a will in relation to funeral arrangements (something that shocked me when I found out as I was counting on this to make sure things were done as I wanted) so these can be done anyway. I know it would be nice to follow what he wanted, but I cant imagine he would have wanted to be left lying in a mortuary or undertaker's fridge for long either.

If you have no luck with the solicitors, you may need to try all the local banks but hopefully he did use a local firm and your search will be short.

elona

Thanks Bossyboots.

I did a search and it turns out that there are about a dozen firms that I will try to phone today.

We did not expect to get a copy of the will or anything like that - just to know that his friends wishes could be carried out and the "ball rolling" so to speak.

oldnick

Worth checking out the Probate office. A lot of people lodge a copy of their will there.
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/wills.htm

If the Father's will has been proved you would be able to get a copy for £5 and from that find out who the solicitors were.

Hope that helps.

jonesMUFCforever

oldnick wrote:

Worth checking out the Probate office. A lot of people lodge a copy of their will there.
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/wills.htm

If the Father's will has been proved you would be able to get a copy for £5 and from that find out who the solicitors were.

Hope that helps.

I don't think so!
When you die and your executors apply for probate yes but not before death!!

Bossyboots

ejones999 wrote:

I don't think so!
When you die and your executors apply for probate yes but not before death!!

Oh yes they do. All the details are here http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/family/wills.htm#tokeepawill

Not many people do register their wills though so this is a long shot.

It is a good suggestion to get a copy of the father's will if all other avenues are exhausted as, as has been suggested, it may well have the name of the solicitors who prepared it on the cover.

jonesMUFCforever

I stand corrected.
I have however never heard of anybody doing this.

Bossyboots

ejones999 wrote:

I stand corrected.
I have however never heard of anybody doing this.

Sadly neither have I. I have often thought it should be compulsory to lodge a copy of the will or at least for there to be a database of wills so that grieving loved ones can easily trace whether or not one exists.

elona

I agree with you Bossyboots - it would save so much confusion and upset.

jonesMUFCforever

The problem would be what if you lodged a will say a few years ago (or months or days for that matter) and then drew up a new one but did not lodge it/
If wills were also available for anyone to have a look at for only £5 a pop how many family members would do this just to see 'what we will be getting'?
A bad idea IMO.

Bossyboots

ejones999 wrote:

The problem would be what if you lodged a will say a few years ago (or months or days for that matter) and then drew up a new one but did not lodge it/
If wills were also available for anyone to have a look at for only £5 a pop how many family members would do this just to see 'what we will be getting'?
A bad idea IMO.

I think having to register it would make people aware of doing so, particularly if it was the case that the last registered will was the one that would be used. The registry would need to issue receipts for wills but I would expect there to be self responsibility on the part of the person making the will to ensure it is registered and receipted. Although there are bound to be hiccups, I do think it would ease the current situation of people having to contact upteen places and not knowing for sure if a will has been made.

I would also suggest that no-one is allowed to see a copy of the will until after death and then only the executor. The system now of allowing anyone to buy a copy after probate should remain.