Will Copy Validity and Estranged Executor Questions

iwant2asave

Thanks for the answers everyone.

We would try and find out if the original was stored by the the company who provided the will.

There is a letter with the will and the name of the company is "Aegon Financial Services Limited".  It seems on companies house that the company no longer exists.

Question : If a will writing company that holds original wills ceases trading then what do they do with the original wills they held?

Keep_pedalling

iwant2asave said:

Thanks for the answers everyone.

We would try and find out if the original was stored by the the company who provided the will.

There is a letter with the will and the name of the company is "Aegon Financial Services Limited".  It seems on companies house that the company no longer exists.

Question : If a will writing company that holds original wills ceases trading then what do they do with the original wills they held?

That company changed its name to RAFS Ltd which was wound up in 2010. 

Any wills they held should have been returned to the clients if they still held an up to date address for the client, otherwise they are likely to have been shredded. 

iwant2asave

Keep_pedalling said:

iwant2asave said:

Thanks for the answers everyone.

We would try and find out if the original was stored by the the company who provided the will.

There is a letter with the will and the name of the company is "Aegon Financial Services Limited".  It seems on companies house that the company no longer exists.

Question : If a will writing company that holds original wills ceases trading then what do they do with the original wills they held?

That company changed its name to RAFS Ltd which was wound up in 2010. 

Any wills they held should have been returned to the clients if they still held an up to date address for the client, otherwise they are likely to have been shredded. 

Ok thanks, and the letter accompanying the Will also states at the bottom that they are a representative of "The Will Registry".  Is that a company or could that mean the there is a register on which the will was stored?

:

Yours Sincerely,
Mr X
Financial Consultant
Representative of
The Will Registry

RAS

The Law Society have a Register of Wills, as do the Probate Registry.

Have you checked those?

iwant2asave

RAS said:

The Law Society have a Register of Wills, as do the Probate Registry.

Have you checked those?

Thanks - I haven't, I will check those.

And by the way - are we all absolutely certain that the fact that it has "COPY" printed on the bottom means that this is not a valid will.

The reason I ask is that in the accompanying letter, there is absolutely no mention of them storing an original and the version that we have is a signed in ink version and it is official looking, properly bound in the corner etc.  The only thing is that it says COPY printed in blue in the bottom.  Please see attached image.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GEquSXSPTXWWVG7S9

p00hsticks

iwant2asave said:

And by the way - are we all absolutely certain that the fact that it has "COPY" printed on the bottom means that this is not a valid will.

I'd suggest that you contact the Probate Office and ask them directly - see the 'Get Help and Advice' section in the link below for contact details

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate