Document Storage – Storing your Will

Here are a few small considerations about document storage:

• If you passed away and your last Will and Testament cannot be found then for all intents and purposes you have died intestate.
• If a copy of the Will exists then it may be possible for the witnesses to be contacted and affidavits produced to show that this is last Will. It is likely that the Will Writer will also be contacted and the notes asked for.
• If you do store Wills for your clients then you should insure the documents. This may not necessarily be covered by your PII cover.
• There is no national register for Wills and they don’t have to be stored with a Solicitor or Will Writer.
• You should always notify the person or persons that are named as executors in your Will as to its whereabouts so that it is easily retrievable.

The risks of storing your Will at home are:

• That it may be misplaced. It may become lost during a house move.
• Chances are, it won’t be insured.
• It may be inaccessible to family members.
• It is at risk to fire/flooding etc.

Possible places to store your Will are:

• At home
• With your Will Writer
• With a Solicitor
• At a national document storage facility
• With your bank.

Please take into consideration that for a Will to be admissible at probate it needs to be the ‘Last Will and Testament’ with a ‘wet ink’ signature.