Doesn't a solicitor store/log a will

Mojisola

Spendless said:

Ok, but in our case we have only got ONE will (one in my name and one in DH's name - mirror wills) and these are the originals. Nothing else exists AFAIK. This is where I'm getting confused.

The copies we have of our wills are photocopies of the original will.  

There is only ever one original will - the one you sign and have witnessed - that has to be produced to get probate. 

A copy isn't good enough for that, although if the original couldn't be found, it could be used in a court case to show what the testator's intentions.

Spendless

Mojisola said:

Spendless said:

Ok, but in our case we have only got ONE will (one in my name and one in DH's name - mirror wills) and these are the originals. Nothing else exists AFAIK. This is where I'm getting confused.

The copies we have of our wills are photocopies of the original will.  

There is only ever one original will - the one you sign and have witnessed - that has to be produced to get probate. 

A copy isn't good enough for that, although if the original couldn't be found, it could be used in a court case to show what the testator's intentions.

The ones we were sent and have at our house  are the ones to have signed and witnessed, so there isn't a copy. Just the originals in our possession. .

Ambyth

Also worth asking you solicitor about the National Will Register (it is an on-line record of Wills).  Renewed our family Wills a few years ago and we were all given the option to have our Wills recorded.

NannaH

Solicitors only keep old records for a few years.
When we were trying to find my FiL’s will and house deeds,  the solicitor was the 1st place we tried but they had no records from 1997. 

When we did eventually find the will, amongst 50 years of paperwork, if my SiL had found it and had it not been to her liking, I’m sure she would have shredded and burned it. 

Lots of people have diy wills or those done by will companies.  How many of them go ‘astray’?

RAS

People are sometimes put off using the Courts and Justice will storage because they take about 3 weeks to return it and charge a small one off fee. 

But there are numerous threads on here about missing wills which were in the charge of solicitor's firms which have closed, been taken over or been forceably closed by the regulators. It takes much longer than 3 weeks to sort that out. We even knew who the new firm was and it took ages.

Spendless

RAS said:

People are sometimes put off using the Courts and Justice will storage because they take about 3 weeks to return it and charge a small one off fee. 

But there are numerous threads on here about missing wills which were in the charge of solicitor's firms which have closed, been taken over or been forceably closed by the regulators. It takes much longer than 3 weeks to sort that out. We even knew who the new firm was and it took ages.

I must admit I'm surprised there isn't more of a 'belts and braces' approach to making a will. We were prompted to make a will due to the threads I've read on here when there's been no will, one family member has applied to be administrator and then not distributed the estate correctly and kept the lion's share themselves. We thought go and do this officially make both kids joint executors (yes, I'm aware they can still act independently) and it also threw up scenarios we'd not considered. We weren't keen on what intestacy would do if all our heirs were gone, so I went and spoke to 2 of the 3 beneficiaries that situation would create and they were happy and understood and agreed with our reason to state what happened next. We even realised that we weren't happy that the fate of the dog might fall to one family member so put our wishes in who wanted to make that decision should the dog (or another pet) outlive us.  I suppose I hadn't thought beyond and now to make sure that this will is actually adhered to, I sort of assumed making one meant that would be automatically done.

Savvy_Sue

Hang on, I've just re-read your first post.

You're saying the solicitor sent you the wills, for YOU to sign and have witnessed.  You didn't sign them with witnesses at the solicitors?

That strikes me as unusual, and potentially dangerous. 

You've only got to misunderstand the instructions for signing to create a nasty mess.

Or just fail to sign - it's been known!

We were sent a draft, which we checked and corrected. Then we went to the solicitor and signed them there, with his staff witnessing them.

Are you sure you weren't sent a final draft, with the expectation you'd go to the office to sign?

Spendless

Savvy_Sue said:

Hang on, I've just re-read your first post.

You're saying the solicitor sent you the wills, for YOU to sign and have witnessed.  You didn't sign them with witnesses at the solicitors?

That strikes me as unusual, and potentially dangerous. 

You've only got to misunderstand the instructions for signing to create a nasty mess.

Or just fail to sign - it's been known!

We were sent a draft, which we checked and corrected. Then we went to the solicitor and signed them there, with his staff witnessing them.

Are you sure you weren't sent a final draft, with the expectation you'd go to the office to sign?

Yes, exactly this. I wasn't expecting this. They are physical  wills, 2 of them , they says the last will and testament of spendless and the last will and testament of Mr Spendless.  They aren't signed. DH says we sign them and have them witnessed, and I said and then return for safe-keeping and he said No, we keep them (the only will that would be signed) and like you say the potential to go wrong at this point.

I'm going to get DH to re-read the last email about it, in case there's been a mix up. 


 

Keep_pedalling

NannaH said:

Solicitors only keep old records for a few years.
When we were trying to find my FiL’s will and house deeds,  the solicitor was the 1st place we tried but they had no records from 1997. 

When we did eventually find the will, amongst 50 years of paperwork, if my SiL had found it and had it not been to her liking, I’m sure she would have shredded and burned it. 

Lots of people have diy wills or those done by will companies.  How many of them go ‘astray’?

How long they keep them depends on the type of documents. Original wills will be held until handed to the executors after the testators death and most will hold the file for another 7 years in case of a legal challenge to the will.

user1977

Spendless said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Hang on, I've just re-read your first post.

You're saying the solicitor sent you the wills, for YOU to sign and have witnessed.  You didn't sign them with witnesses at the solicitors?

That strikes me as unusual, and potentially dangerous. 

You've only got to misunderstand the instructions for signing to create a nasty mess.

Or just fail to sign - it's been known!

We were sent a draft, which we checked and corrected. Then we went to the solicitor and signed them there, with his staff witnessing them.

Are you sure you weren't sent a final draft, with the expectation you'd go to the office to sign?

I'm going to get DH to re-read the last email about it, in case there's been a mix up. 

Or just read the email yourself.