Before you can begin to challenge a person’s Will, you first need to try and obtain a copy of it. This can often cause difficulties.
A person’s Will is a confidential document, and belongs to the person who made it, or belongs to their estate. Often, people keep their original Will at home, and do not leave copies anywhere. Therefore, sometimes, the only way to find it is to search the house.
There is a National Will Register, which was launched in 2008, which is a voluntary service to register and search for Wills. However, this only works if the person chose to register their Will with the service. Details in relation to the register, and how to search it, can be found at www.certainty.co.uk.
If the deceased used a solicitor to prepare the Will, then the solicitors may hold a copy. It is usually advisable to write to solicitors that you know the deceased used, to ask whether they have a copy, or the original. However, if you are not named as an executor in the Will, then you will not be automatically entitled to a copy of the Will, and the solicitors can refuse to provide you with this information.
A Will becomes a public document once a Grant of Probate has been obtained to administer the Will. If you want to obtain a copy of a person’s Will, you can apply for a standing search with your local District Probate Registry. If you apply for a standing search, the probate registry will send you a copy of the Grant, together with a copy of the Will, if one was made.
If you wish to apply for a standing search, complete the details on this standing search form, and send it to your local District Probate Registry, together with a cheque for £6 made payable to HMCS. You must make sure that the information on the form is accurate for the search to work.
The search will remain in place for 6 months. Therefore, if a Grant has not yet been obtained, but is issued within the next 6 months, the probate registry will send a copy to you. You can renew the standing search at the end of the 6 months by writing to the probate registry quoting your standing search number, and paying a further £6.
If you need any advice once you have obtained a copy of the Will, please feel free to contact us on 0845 144 1441 or complete our online enquiry form and a member of the team will contact you.
